


Redemption in a Worthy World

by Lightbringer34



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Politics, Psychological Drama, Time Travel, Uchiha Sasuke Has Issues, helping yourself help others, mentioned Mikoto/Kushina, sasuke faceplants his way to a better world, saving the world again
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:55:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 45
Words: 227,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25211245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lightbringer34/pseuds/Lightbringer34
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha has returned to the Konoha of his youth missing an eye and questioning everything. While knowing what's to come is an incredible advantage, his very existence starts a domino chain of events no one could predict. With both the Akatsuki and Danzo interested in a new Uchiha, Sasuke will have to fight to keep those he loves safe in the cloak-and-dagger world of the shinobi. Except things are changing before he's even woken up, his younger self is just as stubborn as he is, and he's going to have to learn how to parent all over again.Updates on Sundays.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Uchiha Sarada & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 199
Kudos: 393
Collections: why im sleep deprived 💖✨





	1. Rain and Recrimination, at the Very End.

**Author's Note:**

> Tired of cookie-cutter time travel fics with predictable plots and OP characters? This is my answer, allowing characters to be complex, flawed, and competent all at once. I'm attempting to make the cartoonishly evil less cartoonish (Danzo, Orochimaru) while exploring how things got to the way they are in canon.
> 
> Ever wonder what the Akatsuki was doing before Shippuden? Why kunoichi lose their personality upon becoming mothers? Why Uzushio and the Uzumaki were hunted almost to extinction? How much dignity can Sasuke lose before becoming an emotionally healthy human being?
> 
> Here's my answer and I hope you enjoy it.

Sasuke’s left side didn’t hurt anymore, so he knew he was in serious trouble. The ninja world had been in serious trouble for the last four years, since the Otsutsuki clan came down from the stars and began their retribution. There were twenty of them, four for each of the Great Nations, and it had taken Naruto and Sasuke to handle two combined. With twenty, things got ugly from the very beginning.

They hit the Hidden Cloud first, all twenty, to test their strength against the humans. Bee and A died, as did Choji, on a visit with his family. Whatever they did to the Eight-Tails, struck Naruto like one of Sasuke’s Lion’s Barrages. He doubled up, fell to the floor, and vomited something ugly and black that smelled like burnt rubber. The Alliance would later learn the same had occurred in Suna to Gaara, but it didn’t take a Nara genius to deduce something bad was happening. Naruto never properly recovered, so Sakura and Sasuke had spent the next two weeks as part of an advance team sent by the Ninth Hokage, their daughter.

Sarada…

______

The invaders swept through the northernmost countries as if there was no resistance, though Allied Shinobi forces met them every step of the way. The Lands of Frost and Hot Water boiled to steam in the running battles and he’d seen Suigetsu fall to a three-horned waif whose Lava-style jutsu was even faster than the Tsuchikage’s.

The Mist was magnificent, leading six of the white abominations into blind ambushes, hit-and-run battles, and killed one with a typhoon that could be seen from the bones of Turtle Island by the fleeing refugees.

The Allied Shinobi Forces had claimed three of the invaders, at the cost of the Sound Village and most of the Eastern half of the Land of Fire, for which Sarada vowed vengeance. Sasuke had warned her about the Curse of the Uchiha, and his own mistakes, but at that point none of them were thinking rationally. The loss of half the known world tends to strain everyone’s tempers.

The Alliance had formed a line of battle-hardened shinobi from the Land of Snow down to Konoha. Though it turned their stomachs, Hidden Rain led the call to use the Edo Tensei in a desperate move to save what was left of the continent. The idea was sound and Sasuke had approved it during one of the frantic or exhausted war councils on the road or between refugee camps. The Otsutsuki certainly left enough bodies to be used. Mitsuki, now another Kage-on-the-run of the Sound Village, managed to drag Kabuto out to perform the jutsu, boosted by a hundred shinobi as chakra batteries.

Naruto, Ino, and some of the others objected, opposed to using the same tactics as Kaguya and her clan, draining humans to increase the power of one. The only reason they let it happen was Kabuto admitted he did not plan to survive the ritual, and there was enough determination left in his eyes that those opposed simply dropped the subject. Fighting enemies was hard enough, no one had time to fight allies. Still, Sarada hated her father a little more for that, and he had no excuses left. Sasuke cashed those in forty years earlier, sitting in a prison cell across from Kakashi, Ibiki, and Tsunade. None of them were still alive either.

Of course, the whole thing went to hell the moment the jutsu began, and not in the usual way. Ninja were not falling dead as Kabuto drained their chakra to power the largest Reanimation in decades, but they were growing. Something like tentacles of black slime erupted from their hand seals or chakra points as their own chakra fought its way out of their bodies. Himawari and two other Hyuga went insane as everyone looking at the sight either fled in raw terror, froze, or died on the spot. Those who did survive did so because of Gaara, who dragged gibbering ninja away on his sand, even as his sea-green eyes twisted into mouths that cried out in horror.

Sasuke did not remember this, nor had any of the others. The Yamanaka clan and a remnant clan from Cloud dragged the memories out of their minds, wrote as brief a description as they could, and fell on their weapons. They had saved the leaders and warriors of the Shinobi world, but at too high a cost. Sasuke didn’t know who took his memories, and didn’t want to know. It could’ve been Ino and she hadn’t deserved that. The Sharingan gave the users photographic memory, should they choose to use it, and every detail of that nightmare, of everything that had happened had been etched onto his mind just as it was on Sarada’s.

Sakura was the one who remembered Usushio, the ruins of the Uzumaki clan, surrounded by whirlpools and secrets. Whatever the Mist might have known had drowned twice over, but if even a fraction of the legends were true, they could still save the world. Sakura had the plan, Karin had the birthright, and Naruto had the hope. He carried it in his chest just like Kurama’s chakra, always ready to offer a glowing, burning ember to someone else whenever they needed it. He was no longer Hokage, but he kept giving himself, bit by bit, to save others just like he’d saved Sasuke. The Uchiha had no proof of this, but suspected his presence and voice alone lowered the suicide rate by twenty percent.

Only his closest friends saw how much it was costing him. He was a generous soul because for so long he’d had nothing and sought to save others from that fate. He was always a better man, Sasuke could admit that. He’d grown to love Naruto Uzumaki or perhaps had loved him for a long time, maybe even as far back as the Valley of the End. He loved them all, each and every man and woman who volunteered to enter Uzushio, every one a Kage-level fighter in some way. In the end, there were twenty shinobi in four-man teams, who drove past the natural disasters beating down on Rain and Grass and the biju-things that drove the storms in turn. At that point, Kurama had been the lucky survivor. And he’d been silent for weeks, either asleep from chakra exhaustion or dead. The damn chakra constructs were running out of chakra, that’s how far things had gone!

The trio were not subtle, because speed was their only remaining ally. The remaining twelve Otsutsuki converged on Uzushio as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura fought like the gods they now undoubtedly were. Even jonin would have been like civilian children in this battle, such was the speed and power unleashed across the Land of Whirlpools. Shikamaru was a man-shaped hole in the world that wore deception as armor and shadow as a killing lance. Some **_Thing_** that was vast, black, and terrible was sewn back into its own prison by his shadows, even as the _**thing**_ dragged him in with it. Rock Lee opened the Eighth Gate, killing one invader, and nearly killing a second before he dissolved on the wind. His son Metal took on the wounded Otsutsuki while Sasuke learned that the vile clan from the Stars had blinding white arrows of their own that could pierce the Susanoo’s armor.

One of those had sent him and Sakura across the bay and through the rubble of Uzushio, rebounding off one of the still-sealed buildings with a gong like a temple bell. As she worked to heal the damage, she dragged Sasuke by the arrow still through their stomachs into the building, where Naruto, Karin, and Sarada sat, layering seal upon seal in their own blood and blue ink across the center insignia.

Sasuke and Sakura Uchiha said the same thing to their family: “What do you need?”

Even with adrenaline roaring through their veins, it still felt like the answer took a long time to come and it came from Sarada.

“Whatever you can give us.”

Her parents smiled and took her ink-stained hands in their own, one for each parent. For their daughter, for love, they would give the world.

A world children deserved, or a world that deserved them.

______

It took them two minutes to complete the spell. Two minutes for Naruto to wither until a sixty-year old man looked six hundred, almost inhuman in his hunched shoulders and twisted spine. Two minutes for Karin’s silver-red hair to turn pure white and her hands to curl into hobbled knots of muscle. Two minutes that became irrelevant when another volley of white arrows embedded themselves across the circle. Up above, a gold streak intercepted the white dot of the archer, Gekigami Otsutsuki just enough to send his next shots wide.

Sarada looked at her parents for the last time, her eyes dark and urgent.

“I can send you both, but I don’t know when you’ll arrive. This jutsu is going off without a targeting component and it has to be you.”

She shook her head in wordless frustration, then turned to Sakura, eyes brimming with tears behind her glasses.

“Mama, thank you for everything. I know you can do it.”

Sakura’s daughter leaned over and kissed her brow, right on the Seal of a Hundred in silent benediction. A look passed between them that contained volumes. Everything that had never needed to be said was in that look. Then the seal flared and Sakura was gone.

______

She turned to Sasuke and her expression hardened. It wasn’t hatred, it wasn’t even sadness pushed into a box and hidden behind her eyes. His daughter was looking at him with the kind of blank look he’d used to give strangers who thought he was someone else. It was as if she had no idea who Sasuke was.

“I shouldn’t send you. I don ‘t understand it, really. You spent years away from home and never- You didn’t-“

She gestures as if to indicate all of her father and begins weaving hand signs he couldn’t see. Sasuke cannot look away from her face, from the disappointment, the unfamiliarity, the exhaustion.

“Naruto was more of a father to me than you were. Go back and fix this. Fix yourself. Don’t make me regret being your daughter.”

The last thing he saw was a white arrow entering the brief space between the two Uchiha. As he was thrown back in time and the seal unwound like a clock, Sasuke didn’t know know which one of them he wanted to get hit.

______

Turns out it was him.

The darkness and dull ache meant he’d lost the eye and what felt like a quarter of his face on the left side. On the other (missing) hand, he could feel joints that had been stiff and knobbly with arthritis, suddenly loose and responsive. The seal had somehow rewound him from sixty-five, formidable but fading to a flexible and prime of twenty-five. That meant losing the eye wasn’t a mortal wound, but Sasuke wasn’t going to be Konoha’s Most Attractive Intel Officer anymore.

He cracked three ribs and sprained his tailbone falling off the Genin classroom roof into the sandbox. The children scattered screaming and then, despite warnings from the instructors, crowd close in excitement. It isn’t every day a man in a dark blue cloak pincuishoned by arrows falls out of the sky. Despite time, pain, and the black void Sarada just ripped in his heart, Sasuke recognized some of these faces. He’d fought with them, loved with them, and fled from them in turn. Sasuke locked on to one particular face as he began to lose consciousness, the word a breath of relief, a curse, and a statement all at once.

“Uchiha.”


	2. Time After Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A man falling out of the sky onto a children's playground tends to be noticed. Especially by the Anbu who was watching Naruto Uzumaki. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, now has to deal with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be posting the first three/four chapters to pique people's attention.

The Hokage’s office was crowded, with a dozen high-level jonin and all three Councilors huddled around the oakwood desk. Above them, half a dozen ANBU bodyguards perch on the rafters like elegant gargoyles warding off bad luck. Though it is officially an S-ranked mission, they too, are listening intently as one of their number is verbally dissected by Sarutobi. Poor Hound just had to be on guard duty for the Kyuubi kid that day…

The Hokage was gazing intently at the bandaged and sleeping form of the intruder through his crystal ball, who according to Kakashi, had indeed fallen out of a hole in the sky with a plume of smoke and sealing formulae.

“Yes sir, that was the only thing he said before he passed out. The children had to have heard it, he landed right in the middle of the group. Only reason I caught it was well…” He shrugged, unwilling to bring up the subject of another one of Konoha’s nearly extinct clans when the Uchiha Massacre was barely a year behind them.

“Hatake senses…” he finished lamely.

Sarutobi nodded gravely and dimmed the crystal with a wave of his hand. “Ontoba-san has informed me that the patient will be unconscious for the foreseeable future. Significant blood loss, multiple arrow wounds, and a hole in his head indicate he’s seen heavy combat. Any one of those would have taken out a chunin and some jonin, so we’re looking at an experienced and battle-hardened ninja at the very least. “

He turned in his chair, fingers itching for his pipe, and instead clasped them on the desk in an effort to look in control of the situation. “Ibiki, what did you find?”

The tall, trench-coated interrogator spread a tattered blue cloak across the desk. “Not much, but all of it interesting. A chokutō blade, 3.21 inches longer than average, with matching black scabbard. The sword itself bears markings indicating it was forged in the land of Iron, so he may be a Ronin of some sort or affiliated with them. The troubling part is here.”

The head of Torture and Interrogation gestured to the obvious black stain across the upper half of the blade.

“Clearly blood, but not from a human, that’s for sure. We ran a scraping of it through all our databases and came up with nothing. We don’t think it was from a summoned animal, either. Had one of the Inuzuka take a sniff at it and her partner ran out of damn building after he smelled whatever that was. She just puked.”

Ibiki carefully moved the sword to one side.

“Hatake, while we’re on the subject, can you smell anything familiar from it?”

“Nothing I can place, but even in here, it reeks.”

The jonin was exaggeratedly holding his nose, even through the mask. Sarutobi rolled his eyes, but Anbu were known for their eccentricities.

“Before I go anywhere near that, just dip it in acid, lava, anything to get the stench off, Ibiki. I’m not even trying to breathe in and can still smell it.”

The Hokage raised one eyebrow.

“Most curious. I’m sitting right next to it and can’t smell a thing. Could it be a biological agent custom-tailored to the Inuzuka or Hatake clans?”

Everyone in the room looked alarmed or took a step backwards as Ibiki shook his head. “I don’t think so Lord Hokage. Like I said, we ran it through the standard scans, then the ANBU ones, and got nothing. Whatever this is, it’s unique in all my experience.”

The Hokage turned to the room.

“If anyone in attendance has seen something like this, speak up. We are all equals here.”

A few of the jonin cast glances at the councilors but said nothing for some time.

Shikaku Nara stepped forward and lifted the blade in one hand once Ibiki nodded.

“It almost looks like a kind of liquid darkness; except it’s dried on the blade. Something our Shadow Scrolls warn of when mentioning forbidden techniques.” The Elder Nara stared at the blade grimly, eyes unfocused. “They say the darkness we Nara draw our shadows from is not entirely empty. That sometimes, the darkness bites back.”

That drew some concerned muttering from the group, even as Shikaku shrugged and returned the blade to the desk. “But that’s just a guess, and those stories are centuries old. In all my years, I never heard of such creatures as more than tales to frighten young genin. And from what Hatake has said, this guy’s certainly not one of us.”

He tapped his face, meaningfully. “Skin’s not dark enough and his hair’s a shade more steely blue. Anyway…”

He stepped back into the group and raised a hand in apology.

“Sorry Ibiki-san, please continue.”

The man grunted and moved down his list.

“What else…A half empty weapons pouch, the size normally distributed during the Third Great Ninja War, indicating extensive field operations with enough time to prepare. Twelve kunai, sixteen shuriken, two weapons scrolls, one empty, one containing twenty-five fuma shuriken, but labeled as swords, a clever misdirection in battle, fifteen triggered to explode or fly apart when necessary, five smoke bombs, and two Leaf headbands.”

Here he paused and laid out the last two items for closer inspection.

“The first has been slashed horizontally to presumably indicate severing of ties with the Leaf, while the second is unblemished.”

There was silence as the assembled ninja considered this. Shimura Danzō spoke first.

“Obviously tools necessary for an enemy spy to operate within Leaf territory, or to present themselves as allies and enemies of the Leaf.”

“That doesn’t confirm he is either an enemy or an ally,” pointed out another Councilor, “These could be mementos from fallen comrades, or trophies from dead Konoha shinobi. The only way to know for sure is to interrogate him.”

“I’d rather a Yamanaka do it, Homura. Less chance he’ll lie.”

“Not at the cost of one of our clan members, Danzo,” warned Inoichi. He’d followed Ibiki in and leaned forward, gazing calmly back at the councilors.

“We could delve into his mind right now as he sleeps, but we’d be blundering around in the dark, with no idea who he is or what to look for. Better to simply ask him when he wakes up, and resort to more intrusive techniques if necessary. Besides Lord Danzō never asked for our involvement, he simply assumed it would be given.”

He bowed deeply and retreated from the circle.

“Not that it would be withheld, but the Council should remember that mind-manipulation is not without its risks. And the Yamanaka are not a large clan.”

There was a brief silence as many clan heads tried very hard to not look at Danzō or their Hokage, who spoke at last.

“The village is well aware of the dangers the Yamanaka face in their work and rest assured Inoichi, they are not ignored. Rather, we are simply exploring all options available to us, as we determine the identity of this man. Besides, my councilors have missed one simple point. That if this man was a spy, he failed miserably, beyond what his wounds and inferred skill as a ninja would suggest. Falling out of the sky into a children’s playground, he could have scarcely created a more obvious sign of his arrival in the middle of the village.”

Sarutobi leaned back and, relenting, pulled out his pipe. “Barrier Corps, was there any disturbance in the shield this afternoon that might have suggested his arrival?”

A white-robed man shook his head. “None, Lord Hokage. He somehow bypassed the barrier entirely through some sort of space-time jutsu.”

Kakashi spoke up. “The smoke and seals in the air seemed to suggest a reverse-summoning, but there was no scents or trace of allied creatures in the area, though” he gestured back at the sword, “that stink could have overpowered them.”

The Hokage nodded and turned back to the white-robed man. “Accidental or intentional, his arrival has indicated a serious breach in our security. Go back through the Fourth’s scrolls and find anything you can about the detection of teleportation jutsu. You have my permission to use the Uzumaki or Senju scrolls if necessary.”

The man bowed and departed.

“Now, onto the last part of our mystery ninja.” Ibiki, ever the psychological expert, had saved this bombshell for last. “Underneath this cloak, which is utterly unremarkable, this ninja has the Uchiha crest sewn into his shirt.”

The silence that followed his statement was so complete, the rafters could be heard creaking as the Anbu shifted uncomfortably.

“Impossible.” Danzō spat. “The entire clan was destroyed by Itachi Uchiha himself, we have the records and the dead Police Force to prove it. This must be an insult from Cloud, Ay sending a dying ninja to mock us.”

Hotaru cut in. “If Cloud had a teleportation jutsu like this, they would have sent far more than just one mostly-dead ninja, we’d be up to the treetops in bodies right now if that were the case. No, this isn’t your personal rivalry Danzō.”

The one-armed elder snorted, but kept silent.

Chōza Akimichi leaned heavily on his staff. “Lord Shimura does bring up an important point. Have we accounted for all Uchiha before the massacre? He could be a straggler, a bastard, or an unknown even to the Uchiha. Could we access clan records?”

Danzō snorted. “Itachi stole some of the clan scrolls when he fled Konoha, but the lineage scroll remains. I’d estimate him to be late twenties or early thirties, in his prime for a shinobi. If he was in the village, we would have known him. There would have been records. Someone in this room would have trained him or trained with him. “He turned back to the desk. “Hiruzen, bring up his face again.”

The Third nodded and gestured over the crystal ball, then made an additional Crane hand sign. The image projected across the room and onto the back wall as shinobi swiftly moved out of the way. Though the man was still asleep, and appeared likely to be for some time, every member of the office scrutinized the face closely, though much of it was wrapped in bandages.

Middle-aged for a shinobi, no laugh lines or wrinkles, no scars beyond the mess of his wound. Someone who would have been noticed in Konoha by his peers, certainly by the women.

“Bags under his remaining eye,” pointed Shikaku. “Hasn’t been sleeping much.”

“Do any of you recognize him?” demanded Sarutobi.

There were muttered no’s and shaken heads.

“We would have remembered him, Sarutobi-sensei,” pressed Tsume Inuzuka. “An Uchiha, especially one as good-looking as that would have stuck in someone’s memories.”

The Hokage stroked his chin. “Could he have been erased from our memories then? Inoichi?” The blonde man shook his head. “No Lord Hokage. A mind technique could erase him from one person’s mind, but not from the entire village, not at scale.”

“So we are dealing with a completely unknown element,” mused Hotaru, rubbing the Uchiha crest absently.

Hizashi Hyuga piped up from the corner he’d remained in. “I’d say he is an Uchiha, based on the chakra flow in his body. I can see it from here. It’s still very low, but it flickers like Fire, or Lightning. Many of the clan had similar signatures.”

Kakashi hesitantly raised a hand, then lowered it as the Hokage gestured to him. “I didn’t see a Sharingan on him, but he was suffering from chakra exhaustion when he fell, it could have deactivated to preserve what dregs he had left. The loss of his other eye could indicate someone was interested in his eyes and he took desperate measures to escape. Perhaps he subconsciously homed in on the last place with any Uchiha chakra signatures.”

Danzo and Sarutobi shared a significant look and the former imperceptibly shook his head. The Hokage had the glare of a much younger man, that promised death and horrible suffering to any who defied him, but Danzō was immovable. Not him, then. Or at least, less likely to be him.

“He could have been seeking another chakra signature” piped up Counselor Biwako, with a glance at the portrait of the Fourth Hokage on the wall. “Something the Uchiha also coveted, not so long ago.”

There were more mutterings of discontent, speculation on how the other Great Nations could play into the event until the Hokage gestured for silence.

“Another dangerous possibility, but still only that, for now.” warned Sarutobi. “Lady Biwako and Lord Danzo’s claims do have merit. The guard on the jinchuriki will be doubled until we can get answers from our mystery man.”

The Hokage returned to his more pensive stare, waving at the projection, which dissolved back into the crystal.

“So we have a possible Uchiha survivor, motive and allegiance unknown, fall out of the sky, nearly on top of the other Uchiha survivor, and while bleeding onto a children’s sandbox, utter the word ‘Uchiha’ before passing out.”

“He could have been talking about Sasuke, sir.” Offered Kakashi. “He was staring directly at him before he passed out from the shock.”

“By the Gods, Sarutobi, we’re going around in circles” said Shikaku. “The man’s drugged to the gills and isn’t even going to wake up today or tomorrow! We can speculate all night, but there’s only so much we can learn now.”

Sarutobi nodded. “The jonin commander is correct. He’ll be placed under ANBU guard, a four-man squad, and we will reconvene to discuss this when he wakes up. Dismissed.” He took off his hat in a pointed gesture and the meeting began to break up. The councilors left first, followed by their ANBU bodyguards, then the jonin commanders and clan heads. Only Kakashi lingered by the desk, staring down at the place where the Uchiha symbol had lain.

Sarutobi looked at him but Kakashi did not meet his eyes, so he chose to let the silence stretch. It seemed an eternity until Kakashi finally broke it.

“Lord Hokage, I wish to apologize for my failure to conduct this matter in a discreet way. Now half the village will know a grey-haired ANBU guards Uzumaki Naruto. I wish to resign from Naruto’s protection detail, as I am clearly unfit for the task.”

The Hokage choked on his pipe smoke and had a brief coughing fit while Kakashi bowed his head in contrition, still dressed in the grey armor and short sword of ANBU.

“Don’t be ridiculous Kakashi. Even you can’t be prepared for men falling out of the sky. As it was, you did an admirable job, getting Naruto away from there and reporting all this to us for consideration. Besides, I think the village children will be far more interested in the wounded man from the sky and his cryptic words than the disappearance of Uzumaki Naruto.”

Kakashi kept his head lowered. “Still, I broke cover and Naruto is now aware I guard him. Such knowledge defeats the purpose of a secret bodyguard. I believe I would be best served on more standard ANBU missions.”

Having recovered, Hiruzen Sarutobi placed his pipe back on the ashtray and unleashed his Professor’s glare once again. “Hatake Kakashi, cease your wallowing this instant! Naruto has long been aware of his ANBU guards, the knowledge that one wears the mask of Hound will not trouble him much, I think. Answer me this, who is watching him now?”

“Raven until 2000 hours, followed by Squirrel, relieved by Deer at 0800, in time for his morning classes.”

“You see, you have his schedule memorized and have ANBU members watching him who require the rest necessary to heal. You have helped this village far more than you’ve harmed, Kakashi.”

Kakashi straightened and looked his Hokage full in the face, eyes wide with self-loathing.

“Then why does it not feel like it? I should have been there, should have saved one of them, at least one! Naruto shouldn’t have grown up an orphan-“

“Do not allow yourself to drown in the grief your clan seems to love so much Hatake Kakashi! You still possess all your limbs and are a proud shinobi of the Leaf. To curse yourself this much over a simple task shows you are not nearly ready for field work again. You would abandon your responsibilities to Minato and Kushina’s son out of some misplaced sense of survivor’s guilt?”

The words hung in the air between them, sharp and bitter. Finally, Hiruzen dropped the bombshell. “Your father raised a better man than this, Kakashi.”

Hiruzen had almost hoped for an instant of killing intent, anything beyond the dejected and silent acceptance of his words the scarecrow in front of him displayed. “Go home. Think about what your father would want, what Minato and Kushina would want, what Naruto would want. You will remain on Naruto’s guard detail and I don’t want to hear another word about it. Now GO!”

Kakashi made a stiff, formal bow, which transitioned into a _shunshin_ as he rose, appearing on the roof of the building opposite. He did not see the Third collapse back into his chair, bent double with the weight of every year he’d spent sacrificing for the Leaf. “How long Minato?” the old man whispered through teary eyes, “How long until my mistakes stop harming the Leaf?”

If the portrait on the wall heard him, it gave no sign. 


	3. Two Sides of the Same Coin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How can two Sasuke's exist at once? When the night is long and dreams are dark, the Older meets the Younger just before they have to fight for their lives. 
> 
> Indra Uchiha names himself. After all, it's not quite a lie, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor Angst Alert. Sorry, but Sasuke's just had his world and life ripped away from him, so he's chattier than normal. Fortunately Hagoromo has the patience of a Sage. 
> 
> I won't be doing this kind of repeated perspective switching much, I hope.

Hours passed and the moon rose. Neither of the last Uchiha rose with it. Both were Sasuke Uchiha, weighted with what they had seen and their family’s sins. For the sins of the Uchiha were the sins of the Leaf, and every oak casts a long shadow.

Far away, the shadow known as Zetsu feasted, unaware that his demise had come, at long last. Eons of planning and manipulation from the shadows would soon turn to ash as the creature would be caught in the sun and burnt into the oblivion it richly deserved. Because the Uchiha were a clan of fire, and they existed to hunt what lived in the shadows, to drive it into the light, and expose it for the ugliness it was.

But not yet. That night, on a warm June, the last Uchiha dreamt darkly.

______

_Younger_

He knew where he was. It was where he’d been for the past year, still in this house, where his brother had-nononononono, don’t think about it, don’t think-

Sasuke knew he was in fact still in the house. He was down the hall, in his room, a hundred feet away from where his parents had been, where they had lived, been a happy family. He hated the place and hated himself for staying but couldn’t tear himself away.

The rounded post on the terrace, once square and regular, where he, his mother, and his father would swing around it as they turned the corner. The yellowish stain on his rice mat from when he’d spilled a bowl of soup in his sickness. The orderly precision of Father’s office, with his scrolls and reports tucked neatly away in organized rows or sealed in scrolls themselves. The dojo where his mother would practice with a wooden staff even though she was supposed to be long retired. The living room where-

Where Itachi had killed them. Where Itachi had _shown_ him. Every death at his hand, every slash of the sword or thrown kunai. Sasuke had seen it all and he could never, ever forget it. Better then, to remain where he could be reminded of how the Uchiha had lived instead of how they had died. At least, that had been the theory.

Six months on and the nightmares hadn’t stopped. They hadn’t even receded a little bit. Every time he slept, Sasuke saw it all again. So he embraced it. He lived where they had died, trained where his mother had trained, and scoured his Father’s now ransacked office for any scrap of information of the Clan’s techniques. Itachi had left him the Clan’s Jutsu scrolls, just one more slice of cruelty, one more taunting reminder of his weakness for Sasuke to hold, even as it burned him.

Sasuke stood up, from where he’d been lying, exhausted, across the scroll describing the aerodynamics of a fuma shuriken. He absently wiped the drool from his face and the, thankfully waterproof, scroll. Silently admitting it was time to go to bed, he rolled up the scroll to replace it when the wall in front of him exploded.

______

_Older_

At first, he didn’t know where he was, partially soaked in water and blind to his surroundings. But as Sasuke slowly dragged himself into a seated position, he moaned in pain and clutched his face. There was empty space where his eye and most of his cheek had been, but no blood. His eye and part of his head were simply gone, as if scooped out by an invisible tool. His joints felt stiff, and turning his head was difficult. He’d only felt this bad after fighting Naruto in the Valley of the End and that had cost him an arm.

“So, you survived the trip, though not in one piece.”

Sasuke attempted to turn at his waist but overbalanced and fell on his shoulder back into the clear water. “Lord Hagoromo!”

The Sage looked down at him from his lotus position, as serene as ever.

“I must admit Sasuke, as Indra’s final reincarnation, you have surprised me. You’ve finally managed to put others before yourself.” He nodded his horned head. “Good. That will serve you well in the wars to come.”

Sasuke groaned again and carefully shoved himself back into a sitting position, though he still had to look up at the floating Sage. “Lord Hagoromo, can’t you bring Naruto back instead of me? He’s the one who could get people to follow him, to believe in him. He believed in the Leaf like I never could, he should have been the one to do this, to go back in time. Sarada said it herself. Naruto was always better than me when it really counted. He knew how to save people.”

Sasuke looked down at his hand, which glowed with the light of the moon. “He saved me, didn’t he?”

The Sage of Six Paths frowned and tugged at his beard. “Perhaps. But I think you are being rather hard on yourself Sasuke. Not everything you wrought was born of ill intent. You saved Karin Uzumaki, Jūgo, and Suigetsu Hozuki. You helped save the world and sealed my mother, just as I had hoped you would.”

“But I failed.” Sasuke felt tears seep down from his remaining eye. "The Otsutsuki Clan returned, just as Kaguya feared, and they killed everyone. They killed my daughter.” A sob hitched in his chest, then burned through and he couldn’t stop it.

“The daughter I failed. The daughter who hated me.”

Hagoromo waited as months of self-loathing and despair flowed out of Sasuke, tears dissolving in the water around him while snot collected above his lip. The Last Uchiha sniffed and rubbed it away with one arm, looking up at the Sage at last.

“How can I possibly do this?”

“Think on those mistakes, Sasuke, now that you have a chance to correct them.”

He waved one pale hand and the surface of the water rippled to show a much younger Sasuke, sleeping on top of a scroll in his Father’s study. A disassembled fuma shuriken lay in front of him. The older Sasuke’s mouth dropped open.

“You have a chance to repair the damage Itachi Uchiha has done to you and the damage you have done to yourself, repeating Indra’s mistakes by working alone. It is time for you to step into the light and realize that you can still be a good person. You still have comrades of the Leaf you can rely on.”

Sasuke stared at the image of himself, mind racing.

“Hagoromo, when did that jutsu send me? Is there still-“

“The Uchiha Massacre has already happened.”

Sasuke’s shoulders slumped.

“But you will still have time. It has only been a year since that dreadful incident. Your younger self is still gravely wounded, I fear, but the damage is not yet permanent. You can still turn him away from the Path of Hatred.”

“What about Naruto, Sakura? Has anything changed?”

“Not yet.” Sasuke looked up sharply, only to see the Sage smile. “Anything that changes now, will be a result of your presence and actions, Sasuke. You get to decide if those changes are for good or ill. As I said, you still have the chance to change things for the better. None of your friends have graduated from the-“ the Sage’s lips twisted in disdain, “Ninja Academy quite yet. There may be-“

There was silence as Hagoromo’s image flickered for a few seconds then solidified.

“Apologies. Communicating along a secondary timestream like this is exceedingly taxing, even for a Sage.”

Sasuke reached out his remaining hand, flickering with his own violet chakra. “Will you be alright? I can-“

The Sage held up a hand, forestalling him. “That won’t be necessary Sasuke. Simply be aware, I can only visit you in moments of great crisis, and my aid is limited to the spiritual plain, or that of the mind.”

The Sage gestured to the cool darkness around them.

“You mind, for instance, could use a wall scroll or two.”

Sasuke blinked and, almost against his will, began to chuckle. “The Almighty Sage of the Six Paths is saying my mind is drab and boring. I’ll add that to the Uchiha Scolls, though,” he mused out loud, “I don’t know if that should be an honor or a shame.”

The Sage chuckled as well and Sasuke felt his heart lighten in response. After decades of undercover work and then the Otsutsuki War, he was glad to find he was still capable of laughter. It made him hope he was capable of more.

Above them, the normally gloomy space of Sasuke’s subconscious began to glow. The Sage and his reincarnated son looked up to see cracks appear as glowing white fingers forced their way through the blackness to reveal a glowing yellow eye.

“I’ve found you warrior” hissed the Otsutsuki, nocking a glowing white arrow. “Time to die.”

______

_Younger_

The wall behind Sasuke exploded inwards with immense force and Sasuke instinctively ducked as shards of wood and scraps of rice paper flew around him. He turned, hands already moving to reassemble the shuriken in front of him, even as his eyes were fixed on the brawl developing in his Father’s study.

Two pale men in white robes were wrestling on the floor, then the ceiling, completely ignoring the laws of gravity as they clawed and grappled with one another. The younger one, with long white hair, caught the elder in an arm lock and threw him over his shoulder, demolishing another wall and sending the opponent into the hallway and beyond.

He turned and saw Sasuke, ringed yellow eyes widening in delight.

“Oho, so that’s your game isn’t it warrior? No wonder you fools were so desperate to complete that seal.”

“SHUT UP!”

The third, black, haired man dove across the rubble, nailing the yellow-eyed man in the face with a perfect dropkick and recovering with a handspring into a fighting stance. The man reached to his waist which was clad only in tattered black trousers and looked down in surprise as his fingers closed around the hilt of a sword Sasuke was sure had not been there a second before. Smirking, the Man in Black unsheathed it and swung in the same movement as the yellow-eyed man drew back his own hand to summon his own glowing white bow in a puff of smoke. Sasuke’s own fingers finally tightened the last screw and he drew his own arm back to strike, only to hesitate.

The Man in Black had closed on his opponent quickly and the two were locked in a terrifyingly fast series of blows that made them impossible to target. Deciding to chance it, Sasuke flung the shuriken and grinned in satisfaction as he heard the meaty _thwack_ as it lodged in flesh. A cry of pain went up as something dark splattered across the hardwood floor and the fight intensified even more, shattering the floorboards and causing Sasuke to scramble back as the scroll and the area he’d been standing in were carved to shreds.

With a scream of effort, the Man in Black pushed with his legs, launching the Yellow-Eyed Man into the ceiling, followed shortly by his sword, which embedded his opponent in the rafter and remained there, quivering with the force of the blow.

The older man in white clambered out of the wreckage of Itachi’s room, followed by the sound of falling timber. He winced. “I’m afraid that was not my most elegant recovery, Indra. My apologies.”

The Man in Black waved a hand. “Trust me, you did me a favor.” He turned and Sasuke gasped. The man had a Sharingan, just like his, red and spinning, though it slowed and dimmed as he watched.

“How did he find us?”

“He must have followed us through the hole in space-time you left in your wake. Extremely dangerous, almost suicidal without the proper precautions. He must’ve really wanted you dead.”

The elderly man folded his legs and entered the lotus position, somehow floating in the air as Sasuke made a strangled gasp like a fish. Both turned to look at him, and there was a long pause.

“Well,” said the older man, stroking his beard. “This was unexpected.”

The Man in Black appeared frozen, staring at Sasuke in shock, until he laughed, spreading his arms wide. It was irregular, hoarse, and startled everyone else in the room, tinged with both madness and a deep exhaustion.

“Unbelievable. Of course this happens. Of course.”

Sasuke dropped into an Acadmey fighting stance, even as he knew both these men were far beyond his skill. If he couldn’t even see them fight, how could he react? “B-both of you, step back, right now.”

Even to his own ears he sounded young and frightened. Just like-no. He wasn’t going to think about it. Not now. He felt his nails dig into his palms but remained where he was.

The older man obligingly floated backwards, while the Man in Black raised his hands in surrender as his Sharingan dimmed into blackness. There was a _schluck_ above them and all three turned to see the Yellow-Eyed Man launch himself at Sasuke with an arrow clutched to stab.

The glowing white of the arrowhead seemed to fill Sasuke’s vision as his hands, honed by weeks of training unconsciously made the signs. Serpent, Ram, _Two feet._ Monkey, Boar, _One foot._ Horse, _Six Inches_. Tiger.

Sasuke knew using your fingers to direct the stream of chakra-infused air from his mouth was normally the best method of accuracy, but at this distance, he couldn’t miss. A massive eruption of flame coursed from him and engulfed the Yellow-Eyed Man, who screamed as his clothes were set alight and his eyes began to boil. He still ran headlong into Sasuke, who joined in the screaming as his own flames began to crawl up his clothes.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!”

Sasuke was yanked back by the scruff of his neck as the Yellow-Eyed Man continued to burn. He looked back, wild-eyed, to see the Man in Black’s Sharingan spin to life once again, quickly progressing past the three tomoe of a full Sharingan into something that looked like a galaxy within his iris.

“Amaterasu!”

The Yellow-Eyed Man grunted as black flames bloomed into existence along his shoulder, only for them to cut off suddenly as a pale arm reached into the flames and grabbed the Yellow-Eyed man by the neck. The Old Man narrowed his own ringed eyes and the air behind both pale men began to spin, reality cracking around them.

“I’ll handle this, Indra! Get him out of here.”

“Hagoromo!” The Man in Black’s voice cracked with strain and concern. “What’s going to happen?”

Hagoromo smiled over his shoulder while his younger opponent spat curses at him that could have curdled milk. “Whatever you decide, son. That’s the secret.” His face turned serious as he began to push them both into the blackness beyond. “Now go. Redeem the Uchiha, and right your wrongs.”

“But-“

The world spun around them and then they were gone.

As soon as the portal closed, Sasuke felt the Man in Black collapse behind him, breathing hard. He spun around into a roundhouse kick and caught the man right in the gut, who let out a grunt of surprise. Leaping back, Sasuke, grabbed for the shuriken he had thrown, now stained with dark, almost black blood.

“What is this?” he screamed. “Who are you? What’s happening?”

Across from him, the man wheezed on the floor for several seconds and Sasuke briefly thought about using the shuriken as a warning shot to keep his attention. No, too risky. Finally the Man in Black drew a shuddering breath and flopped onto his back, staring up at the ceiling.

“Hang on.” He breathed, “give me a moment.”

Sasuke lowered the shuriken slightly and frowned, as it seemed like the man was not an obvious threat, but that just meant he could be twice as dangerous.

“Who are you isn’t a complicated question.”

The older man let out a sigh and flung his only arm across his face, feeling around the spherical hole in the right side which, Sasuke noted, wasn’t bleeding.

“You’d be surprised.”

There was silence as Sasuke contemplated this, only for him to point his shuriken once more.

“You have a Sharingan, how is that possible? Are you with Itachi?”

The man turned sharply to look at him and let his arm drop back to the floor. “Itachi? No, not at all.” He paused, weighing how to answer as something in the house behind them finally crashed to the floor.

“My name is Indra Uchiha, second of my name, last of the Uchiha Clan. Well,” he flopped his arm in the general direction of Sasuke, who now lowered the shuriken. This man wasn’t going to be moving for a while. “I guess I’m the second-last of the Uchiha, now. Or…”

He counted on his fingers, one, two, three, four, raised a fifth, then lowered it again.

“Fourth-last, really.”

Sasuke perked up. “You mean there are other survivors? Were they with you?”

Indra shook his head, causing his long dark hair to flow around him on the floor. “Gods preserve us, no, they weren’t. You and Itachi make one and two, I make three, and another dirtbag in the Akatsuki makes four. Technically there’s a fifth but he’s dead.”

Sasuke tilted his head, now thoroughly confused.

“How can he be a survivor if he’s dead?”

Indra shrugged from the floor.

“He is dead. Made plans to come back. Bunch of dumb bullshit. I blame the Second Hokage, honestly.”

Sasuke pushed the fuma shuriken blades back into their compound state and pointed it at Indra like a blade.

“You’d better not be lying to me. I can tell when people lie.”

Indra sighed and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position as Sasuke stormed forward to put the blades under his throat.

“I got shot in the face today and my daughter told me I was a piece of shit before she died. Why lie?”

He looked at Sasuke and the younger Uchiha saw the bags under his eyes, the sorrow, and the bone-deep exhaustion that spilled from him now the rush of combat was over.

“I don’t have the energy to lie, especially not to you.”

Almost despite himself, Sasuke lowered the shuriken again. “You had a daughter?”

“DON’T-“

He stopped shouting as the blades dug into his throat again, then slowly raised one arm in acceptance. “Don’t just…not yet” he admitted. “I don’t think I can.”

Sasuke nodded and backed away.

“Who were those pale guys, with the weird eyes? Was it some kind of Clan Bloodline?”

“Yes, the Otsutsuki Clan. They came from far away to destroy the Leaf. To destroy all the Great Nations, really. The old man was Hagoromo, my…” he paused, searching for the word. “I’m not sure what, exactly he was. But he cared.”

Indra said it in amazement, like it was a miracle jutsu performed in legends.

“He cared about me, about us.”

Sasuke looked at the place where they’d both disappeared. “Will they be back?”

Indra groaned and pushed himself to his feet. He towered over Sasuke, but made no move to attack him. He swayed for a moment and groped blindly on his left. Sasuke dropped the shuriken and raced over, throwing Indra’s arm over his shoulder and half led, half-dragged the man to the wall where a support pillar rested.

“I don’t know, kid. I really don’t.”

The Uchiha were silent as they stared at the destruction that had spread across the study, hallway, and extended into Itachi’s long-empty room. Indra blinked and Sasuke saw a small smile flit across the older man’s face. “I never thought I’d be back here again.”

“This house? The Leaf?”

“Yes. Mostly this house.”

“Why did you leave?” Sasuke looked up at the man, testing his reaction.

He grimaced. “Lots of reasons. Village politics, hunting a rogue clan member, a desire to become stronger. Pretty sure there was some hatred in there too.”

“Hatred for who?”

“A question for another time.” He groaned and pushed away from Sasuke and the wall, standing upright once more as his Sharingan spun to life.

“Huh. Well that makes things easier.”

“What?”

Indra grinned as he walked over to his sword and shoved it through his belt, still bloody.

“You’ll see when you wake up. Go ask the Hokage about me tomorrow, I should be easy to find. If not, just keep yelling at him until you do.”

He grinned as he brought his hand together in a seal.

“Or find Naruto Uzumaki, he’s even better at that.”

“Wha-“

Sasuke woke up with a start to find drool still on the fuma scroll and his Father’s office whole and unharmed. Only the dark stain on the rafter and shuriken blades remained. Shivering, he returned the scroll to its cubbyhole and pulled out the family records. He had a great deal of reading to do before sunrise.


	4. Family Lineage and a Fox Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke looks over the family scrolls and goes looking for Naruto Uzumaki. He finds things he did not expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I struggled with the tense here, but it should be ok. I imagine that in canon the coroner was the one who filled out the Uchiha Scroll with the death dates while Sasuke was traumatized. The dating system used here is based on the founding of the Villages, but because Kishimoto never bothered to put together a coherent timeline, I had to fudge some of the system. Most of this is correct though.

_Younger_

Sasuke rubbed his eyes in exhaustion, ignoring the grit that had accumulated after hours of tracing family lineage and distant cousins. There were several uncles that would have been the right age, but none of them were named Indra. There was an Inama, and an Itsuchi, but both were dead. He remembered going down the morgue list a few horrible weeks after That Day, a sense of duty and resignation driving him to the basement of the hospital, along with the same Uchiha lineage scroll he held in his hands now…

The staff had let him in, with worried eyes and significant looks they thought he wouldn’t catch, but no one stopped him. He had wanted them to stop him, for someone to tell him this wasn’t his responsibility, that the adults would take care of this, that things would be alright. He knew that last would be a lie, but he had wanted to hear it anyway.

A drowning man will cling to anything in desperation and then, Sasuke had frequently felt as if he was drowning. Frantic movement, indecision, hyperventilation, followed by long periods of blank time, day after torturous day. So Sasuke had dragged himself to the hospital, clinging to his obligation to the dead, as the last Uchiha remaining in the village.

With only the coroner silently watching from the desk, Sasuke had unfurled the massive scroll across the light green linoleum, where curling branches and an intricate tree background displayed the relations and lineages of the Uchiha Clan for the last fifty years. It was a recent scroll, as the tree itself indicated, a reminder that the Uchiha were loyal to the Leaf Village. Still, he had started at the top right corner, furthest away from his inevitable destination.

_Kagami Uchiha, Honored with the Silver Leaf by the Second Hokage. Born: 15 Modern Era. Died: 35 Modern Era._

_Shisui Uchiha, Son of Kagami, Known as Shisui the Teleporter. B: 42 ME, D: 58ME_. Already, someone Sasuke knew. Not well, he’d seen his face and recalled meeting him speaking with Itachi a month or so before That Day. He was the one who’d “committed suicide” in the river and prompted that incident with other members of the Police Force in the street. Sasuke sat back and stared at the name. Had Itachi killed him, or had Shisui discovered what Itachi was planning and killed himself rather than face him?

Sasuke shivered and tried desperately not to think about it. In a ninja household there were still plenty of kunai around and Sasuke had spent more than one night staring at his darkened ceiling, thinking about how easy it would be to just let go of all the pain and responsibility of being alive in a world where his brother had killed everyone, where he was supposed to kill him in turn. But Sasuke had never even drawn a blade across his skin. Not because he was afraid of the pain, though he was. Not because he felt hatred for his brother, though he did. But because to do that would be like finishing Itachi’s work for him, a final admittance that he truly was as weak as his brother and his father had thought he was. No, he couldn’t kill himself. Not now, not ever.

Sasuke had realized he was breathing very fast and dropped onto his back as the coroner started forward in alarm. He came back to himself when the coroner held his hands up in front of Sasuke’s face. The movement was slow and in full view of Sasuke’s vision, but he still spasmed in fright when his eyes focused back in on the gloved hands.

The coroner’s eyes had beeen calm and his voice low. “Deep breaths kid, deep breaths. If you feel like you can’t do that, cup your hands like this,” he brought the hands to his own masked face, “and focus on how your breath feels on your hands. Can you do that for me?”

After a few moments Sasuke nodded and brought his hands to his face in mimicry. But the more he thought about his breathing, the worse it seemed to get, so he just focused on the feeling. The sensation of his hands in front of his face, the cool relief they brought from the harsh fluorescent lights, the smell of his morning soap rather than the sharp medical scent of the hospital. The ache in his thighs as they tensed, ready to spring into action.

“Yes that’s good. That’s very good kid,” murmured the medic. “You’re doing great. Keep going.”

There was silence as Sasuke had realized his chest no longer hurt, that he’d begun to breathe normally again. He took his hands away from his face and nodded respectfully at the coroner. “Thanks. Uh..”

“Soruchi.” Offered the man, pulling his mask down to give Sasuke a brief grin before pulling it back up once more. “You know, if you leave that scroll with me, I can just enter the dates myself. You don’t have to do this.”

Sasuke had shaken his head, looking back at the scroll and the black body bags around the corners of the room. He was not going to think about what was in those body bags.

“Thanks Soruchi-san. But I have to do this.” He locked eyes with the coroner’s kind brown ones. “It’s my responsibility.”

The coroner hesitated, then raised his hands in defeat.

“Alright, If you say so. But I’m right here if you need anything.”

As he stood up and walked back to his desk, casting glances at Sasuke, the Uchiha turned and stared back at the scroll.

Now, the smart thing to do would to put the scroll away, get some sleep, and start again later. But Sasuke’s deep Uchiha stubbornness drove him back to the scroll, knowing what he would find. This time he would be ready.

_Shiraki Uchiha, Member of the Police Force B: 30 ME, D:_ The first blank space. Sasuke picked up the black crow’s feather quill he’d taken from his Father’s office and dipped it into the small pot of black ink it had come with. He carefully scratched out _58 ME_ and compared it to the rest of the script. Not as elegant, but it would do. Whoever had previously written in this scroll had been an expert calligrapher, possibly his father, though Sasuke doubted it. On to the next one.

 _Miate Uchiha , Member of the Police Force. B: 32 ME, D:_ Another _58 ME._

_Nittsoda Uchiha, Civilian. B: 38 ME, D: 58 ME._

_Kinoshika Uchiha, Member of the Police Force. B: 33 ME, D: 58 ME._

_Kentaro Uchiha, Civilian. B: 30 ME, D: 58 ME._

_Kagen Uchiha, Member of the Police Force B: 35 ME, D: 58 ME._

_Uruchi Uchiha- Civilian. B: 07 ME, D: 58 ME._ Here was another name he remembered vividly. He’d called her Grandma, even though his grandparents on both sides were long gone. She’d doted on him, given Sasuke treats from her stall, which he’d found overturned and fruit scattered across the inner courtyard of _\- No…_ He had to keep going.

_Teyaki Uchiha- Civilian. B: 10 ME, D: 58 ME._ Uruchi’s husband and always ready with a cheery grin and wave when any of the village children walked by.

_Mikoto Uchiha, Known as Raven-Winged Mikoto.-B: 33 ME, D: 58 ME_. Sasuke held his hand above the ink pot, a single drop falling back into the pot as he stared at the words. If his mother had an epithet, that could only have been earned as an exceptional ninja, just like his father had been. He hadn’t known that, though of her simply as Mom, as someone to come home to, who he could tell about his problems and who would be there to give him advice. He thought about his mother’s kind face, the way she’d always close her eyes to smile, though Father chided her for it during the family picture. He tried to imagine her in a chunin vest or leading a squad of genin and found he couldn’t. Itachi had told him-

He knew life as a ninja was hard, was going to be hard, and would continue to be hard, and he couldn’t see his sweet mother out there dodging shuriken or wielding a katana. She’d never even mentioned it to him, never spoken about shuriken techniques at the dinner table, even when Sasuke had complained about how difficult they were. His Father had glared and told him to practice more, reminding him that Uchiha used shuriken in several of the Clan’s techniques and that mastery of conventional weapons was important as well. His mother has just smiled and squeezed his hand under the table.

Had she retired to take care of her family? Was she forced to retire? Was it Father? Sasuke shook his head. Questions for later, after he’d finished the scroll.

_Fugaku Uchiha, Known as Evil Eye Fugaku, Captain of the Konoha Police Force, Clan Head.-B: 30 ME, D:_

“Evil Eye Fugaku”? Sasuke could accept this epithet for his Father easily. Based on his glare alone, he was sure members of the Police Force had felt the silent disapproval communicated through that stare, just as Sasuke had. Still, the memories of his Father at the lake, face turned away to hide his pride warred with the image of him on the floor in the living room, face blankly staring at the ceiling in death. He remembered arguments behind rice paper doors late at night, the words indistinguishable, but the tone of condemnation clear as the village bells. He felt his chest tighten, so Sasuke wrote in _58 ME_ like all the others and moved on.

_Obito Uchiha, Hero of the Battle of Kanabi Bridge, Granted his Sharingan to Kakashi Hatake._

_B: 36 ME, D: 49 ME._

Sasuke felt one of his eyebrows raise in surprise. “Granted his Sharingan?” The Uchiha Clan were famously protective of their Sharingan, burning the bodies of their dead so graverobbers or bloodline hunters would not steal the secrets of their Clan. Whether on the battlefield or at home, the Uchiha always left this world through fire.

Once again, Sasuke felt his eyes drift to the bookshelves of his father’s study. He felt a grim satisfaction that he was doing this now. His Father would be pleased, his clan members would doubtless be relieved once he’d finished.

Sasuke returned to the scroll. Another puzzle. Whoever this Hatake was, an Uchiha had given him their Sharingan. There was nothing further to the notation, so this Hatake might still be alive. Sasuke knew that if the man had died, the loss or recovery of the Sharingan would have been noted in what was already a unique case.

_Setsuna Uchiha-B: 43 ME, D:_ Sasuke puzzled over the name, but he kept the quill in the ink well this time, unwilling to risk a spill on such precious parchment. The name was familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Shrugging, he added the _58 ME_ afterwards. Was he already growing numb to it? The clinical quality of the scroll for all its decoration, the stark purpose of the room around him, these things made it easier. 58 ME didn’t even have meaning anymore, just something he had to write after each name.

_Inabi Uchiha- Member of the Police Force. B: 38 ME, D: 58 ME._

_Tekka Uchiha- Member of the Police Force. B: 38 ME, D: 58 ME._

_Yashiro Uchiha-Member of the Police Force. B: 38 ME, D: 58 ME._

The three who had come to question Itachi. Sasuke remembered their faces, how Itachi had glared at them as they walked away, the naked hatred in his eyes. He noted the 58 ME and moved on.

_Itachi Uchiha-B: 45ME, D:_

Sasuke considered writing in 58 ME, then decided against it. His brother may have died that day, it might have been some months earlier, but he could not know. The man that still walked the Five Nations deserved death and Sasuke was determined to give it to him, to the hilt. A part of him wanted to add a date, to give himself a deadline, but that was reckless. Sasuke knew enough from his academy training to know how much he still had to learn. He’d perfected the Great Fireball Jutsu by training until his lips were burnt and his chakra nearly exhausted, but that was merely the first step. What he really wanted to do was to carve Itachi’s name from the list itself, but that would ruin the precious scroll. Underneath Itachi’s name, he wrote: _Perpetrated the Uchiha Clan Massacre in 58 ME, became a missing-nin._

That was enough for now.

_Miyake Uchiha-B 49 ME, D 49ME._ A short message was written underneath, in a wavery hand, obviously added by someone other than the Clan Elder _. Stillborn._

_Sasuke Uchiha-B: 50ME, D:_

Another unfinished entry it was best not to think about. Sasuke stood up and leaned backward to alleviate the stiffness in his muscles as he looked at the clock. He’d exhausted the scrolls and no Indra Uchiha existed. The man could have been in the ANBU Black Ops, but wouldn’t the Hokage have ordered him home much earlier? How had he been in Sasuke’s dream? And why did he ask Sasuke to look for Naruto Uzumaki? That blonde idiot was in the Academy and he couldn’t even answer questions in class, so why would Indra tell him to meet the Hokage? Questions, questions.

Sasuke rolled up the scroll and returned it to its sealed compartment in Father’s desk, already making plans in his head. First he would make a quick breakfast, then head to the Administrative Center to see if the Hokage was free. Then the Hospital. And only then would he even consider asking Uzumaki for help…

______

He had to ask the Uzumaki for help. Sasuke gritted his teeth but nodded politely at the nurse behind the hospital’s expansive front desk. Only problem was, he had no idea where Naruto lived and it was the weekend, so he’d have to wait until Monday. Two whole days wasted because of administrative fools and smiling secretaries who grinned at him. Unbelievable! Still…

Sasuke turned on his heel. “Excuse me, nurse? I just remembered something else. My classmate, Uzumaki Naruto, is always causing trouble. Has he been in here at all?”

Her expression soured instantly, and her false cheer slid away like scum off the surface of a pond.

“Oh, _him?_ Yes he’s always in here. Taking up space, disrupting Doctor Ontoba, using medical supplies the civilians need. Really, I don’t see why the ANBU can’t take care of him themselves rather than keep bringing the kid in every other week.”

Sasuke stared at her in surprise. “The ANBU Black Ops? What would they want with Uzumaki? He’s an idiot!”

The nurse shrugged. “Beats me. But they keep dragging him back to that apartment in the Kanrakugai District. You don’t want to go that way kid.”

Sasuke stared. The nurse hadn’t been helpful, but something about her attitude was starting to irritate him.

“And why not?”

“Because, it’s where he belongs, with the rest of the filth in that-“ she blinked and looked down at Sasuke as if really seeing him for the first time. “You know what I mean, right?”

“No, I don’t” said Sasuke shortly and stalked off.

The nurse had been a piece of work, but she’d given him a place to start searching. He remembered his mother mentioning the place once offhand when Father had come back from some event at the Police Station and his Father waving her off. She’d been short with everyone, even Sasuke the next day, but he’d never questioned it.

As Sasuke moved along the main thoroughfare, he noticed the apartments and stores gradually fall to pieces. The windows collected dust in the corners and walls remained unpainted or covered with indecipherable grafitti. There were less lampposts, and the ones there were began to flicker on as dusk crept across Konoha’s rooftops.

Sasuke felt his hand drift more than once to the kunai he kept taped to the small of his back. As a civilian, he wasn’t allowed into any of the ninja shops, but he’d refused to be caught unawares again. So he kept walking as the lights continued to flicker on and the district lit up with Konoha’s nightlife. Sasuke passed several heavily-laden food carts and well-lit bars, but ignored them, eyes on the second stories or roofs, searching for any sign of the Uzumaki. Someone that loud and obnoxious fit into this district perfectly, as far as he was concerned. Now, the only difficulty was finding him. He glanced at a street sign and nearly fell over as a large man in the distinctive garb of a Konoha Chunin pushed past him, heading towards- OH.

There was a woman across the street beckoning the chunin, who quickly flung an arm around her shoulders and together they walked into the gaudy building behind her. The sign proclaimed it to be “Hinzuka Gentlemen’s Club”. There were other women clustered around the area and none of them were wearing very many clothes. As if on cue, the streetlight above Sasuke’s head flickered on.

He moved faster now at a not-quite-run that kept him moving and hopefully out of trouble. Shop, shop, gambling parlor, club, nothing. As he turned the corner at the end of the street the crowds dimmed, as did the noise. Sasuke sighed and leaned against the backdoor of the club he’d passed by, only to jump as it rattled behind him. Moving quietly into the blind spot of the door, Sasuke quietly drew his kunai. Just in case.

The door flung itself backward and hit Sasuke full in the face as someone else was sent sailing out of it in a drunken shout. He heard a deep voice from behind the door. “Look buddy, this is your last warning. Keep your hands off the servers if you want to keep ‘em attached. Now, get the hell out of here and don’t come back until you’ve learned some manners.”

A moan was heard in reply, which the first speaker apparently took as agreement, for the door slammed back into its frame, then conspicuously locked once more. Sasuke stumbled back, blinking spots out of his vision as he saw the offender in question likewise lift himself into a sitting position. The last Uchiha considered his options.

He was still unseen and could easily sneak away. On the other hand, Iruka-sensei said that being a ninja meant gathering information and this man had clearly been in this district before. He wasn’t wearing any ninja garb, so the man was likely a civilian. Technically Sasuke was too, but the kunai in his hand and the chakra coiling in his stomach made a strong argument otherwise. It wasn’t like he’d made any progress anyways.

So Sasuke stepped forward and grabbed the man’s hair in one hand and brought his kunai to bear with the other. “Tell me where Naruto Uzumaki is, now.”

“Wh-what?”

He’d tried to deepen his voice, like he’d heard the bouncer do, but even then, it was a laughably pitiful attempt. The man wriggled slightly but stilled as Sasuke brought the kunai up into his field of vision. He tried again.

“Naruto Uzumaki, have you seen him?”

On second thought, this had been a bad idea. This close, the man absolutely stank of alcohol and something else that smelled pungent. Sasuke tried not to breathe deeply and vowed to wash his hands when he returned home.

“The fox brat? Yeah, I’ve seen him around. Tryin’ to steal off everyone or cheat the shopkeeps when they should just kick him out for what he’s done. What’s it to you?”

Sasuke’s mouth twitched in the Uchiha version of a grin. Finally, a lead.

“Where?”

“Two streets west of the Naka River, that’s all I know. Trust me, you’ll know where.”

Sasuke withdrew his kunai and shoved the man forward. “Thanks.”

The man whirled around, but Sasuke was already halfway down the block, deep into the night.

As he moved, Sasuke saw several clusters of people, like him, sticking to the back alleys and avoiding the traffic and lights of the main road. He heard murmurs of conversation and once, the telltale _woosh_ of a fire jutsu, accompanied by a choked-off scream. Sasuke blocked it all out and kept running. By this point, the moon was high in the sky and Sasuke could see in it reasonably well. He slowed as he caught a glimpse of bright orange to his right and doubled back, to be sure.

It was a large mural, sprayed across the crumbling wall of some shop that had long since been out of business and collecting dust. Even in the darkness, Sasuke could clearly see the outline of Naruto’s signature orange jacket and pants, plus the vibrant yellow splash that had to be Naruto’s hair. The mural appeared to depict Naruto standing atop the Hokage Monument, with some unflattering depictions of the Hokages below. Sasuke doubted that the First had ever braided his hair, or that the Third’s face had quite that many lines. The Fourth certainly didn’t have a mustache. Still, that was quite clearly Uzumaki in the mural. As he stared, Sasuke could almost hear his ridiculous claim in his head. “I’m gonna become Hokage, you’ll see!”

Snorting, Sasuke looked along the alley for any more murals and a few hundred feet later, was rewarded with a sprawling trail of orange paint. Following the trail proved to be much more difficult than Sasuke had anticipated, for it moved up the sides of buildings, across walls, and over rooftops. Though he wasn’t able to stick to surfaces yet, Sasuke still knew how to channel chakra into his legs for high jumps, which allowed him to barely catch the lip of a rusty fire escape and clamber onto it. Breathing hard from the exertion, Sasuke grimaced. Uzumaki couldn’t have lived in a ground-level house closer to the center of the village? Preferably with his name on it? Of course not.

He followed the spray paint onto the roof and saw the Kanrakugai District spread out below him. Dozens of roofs, some with laundry spread between air conditioning units or chimneys, but all the buildings had a shabbiness to them, a decay that suggested this place was long past its prime, if it had ever had one. He could see the Naka River to his far left, which marked the boundaries of the “main” village as it transitioned out into forest, farmland, and the industrial district.

He turned to his right and was shocked to recognize the walled compound of the Uchiha estate, with its walled gardens and empty thoroughfares. He’d never realized that Naruto had lived so close to him or that…all of this had existed just beyond the walls of his childhood. He’d always headed northeast along the road from the Uchiha compound towards the inner village where the Acadamy or the shopping district was. Naruto was _right here_ and he hadn’t known, just as he hadn’t known about “Raven-Winged Mikoto” or “Hatake Kakashi”.

Sasuke blinked and kept moving along the roof with the paint trail. How much else had he missed simply because he hadn’t bothered to look, had followed the same routine day after day for the past year? He resolved to ask Naruto what he knew once he’d gotten the idiot to badger the Hokage. The paint continued then stopped abruptly as it met the lip of the roof. Sasuke leaned over the side, though the paint didn’t continue down the side of the building, but instead started up on the roof across the alley. Sasuke stared in wonder and more than a little shock. Naruto was at the bottom of the class in the Academy, but the moron had jumped across a building, just to mess with paint?

Increasingly feeling like he was missing something, Sasuke glanced down the sheer drop below. No fire escapes to help now. He could just climb back down the way he’d come and work his way over from the street…

No way.

Uzumaki Naruto, the loud, stupid, class loser had made that jump and Sasuke Uchiha wasn’t going to let himself be upstaged by a moron, not when he had so much more to accomplish. Not when he had a goal that he actually could accomplish, he needed to accomplish. Killing Itachi was everything. Compared to that, Naruto’s foolish daydream of becoming Hokage was nothing. Sasuke could do this for sure.

“I’m coming Itachi.” He muttered, as if his brother was on the opposite roof, waiting for him.

Backing up, Sasuke shifted his kunai to his left hand and dug in his sandals. He remembered his brief push with chakra earlier and took deep breaths, the necessary step to gathering enough chakra for a fireball. Surely the principle had to be the same? Just direct chakra from your stomach to legs.

Sasuke began to breathe as he lowered himself into a runner’s stance. Minimizing wind resistance, maximizing forward and upward momentum, releasing chakra through the whole of his feet…Now.

With a sharp exhalation, Sasuke pounded forward then, as he reached the lip of the roof, took one step up, and launched himself off the balcony. He heard a _woosh_ as something blasted from his legs at incredible force and he was suddenly sailing across the empty space.

For a brief instant, Sasuke felt like cheering, like he was flying above Konoha, above all of it. His whoop of excitement rang across the night and owls answered his call with screeches of their own. Then, he began to fall.


	5. Coming Down Hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke has an unexpected discovery, some things get broken, and broken things are made whole.

Sasuke fought the urge to scream as he fell towards the street and the wall of the apartment opposite him. He wasn’t sure which one he’d prefer to hit, because at this speed, both could kill him. Fighting the image of his body splattered across the pavement, Sasuke grabbed his kunai with both hands and drove it forwards as he brought his feet forward in a pitiful attempt to break his fall.

The wrench of impact as the kunai embedded itself in the cheap concrete nearly dragged the ninja tool out of his hands, but Sasuke clung on, even as he felt his sandals skidded across the surface. He scrambled blindly, breathless with fright as he continued to fall, as his sandals left black marks down the wall and as his hands began to bleed from the force of holding onto the kunai. The pain was a focus, brought him back to himself, just as it had when Itachi had nearly hit him with a shuriken in his living room. Sasuke grit his teeth and pushed harder, grasping with his right hand for a handhold.

There was a harsh metallic noise as the kunai finally gave way under the stress and snapped in two. Sasuke dropped the useless handle as his right hand finally caught on a windowsill, quickly joined by his left. He jolted to a stop as his weight pulled him down and felt more pain blossom on the inside of his elbow and forehead as his forward momentum used the last of its energy to shove his face forward and into the window.

It didn’t break, but it did crack quite loudly and Sasuke felt blood trickle down his forehead as he finally, finally, came to a stop. He sucked in a breath, taking a moment to just breathe as he dangled, three stories above the street. Incongruously, he heard his Father’s voice in his head.

 _The breath is vital for Fire-Style jutsu,_ he had lectured. _It gives your chakra purpose and direction, which you can in turn direct against your enemies and circumstances. But a ninja must be mindful of their surroundings, especially with Fire style, which can be a hinderance as much as a help. This is why we are out near this lake, to allow for mistakes as you learn._

_Why am I thinking of Father at a time like this?_ Sasuke wondered. Nonetheless, he pulled himself up and set his legs against the wall, freeing one of his hands to begin to slam against the glass. He took another deep breath and shouted.

“Hey! Hello in there! Help!”

He repeated the simple mantra over and over and he rattled the shutter and made as much noise as possible, hoping desperately this wasn’t one of the abandoned apartments. He could feel his left arm beginning to tire and silently vowed to double his strength training if he survived this.

Just for an instant, Sasuke felt something behind him, a shadow, or a breath of air. He reflexively looked over his shoulder but saw nothing. When he had turned back a light had flicked on inside the apartment. He began to shout and bang on the window again as the light flicked on inside the window, briefly blinding him as night became day once more. He felt two hands grab his own and begin to pull. Sasuke pushed up with what little strength was left in his legs as the hands pulled him over the windowsill and inside the apartment.

He fell to the floor, gasping for breath and blinking as his eyes regained their focus.

“Huh? What the hell are you doing in my kitchen?” grumbled Uzumaki Naruto.

___________

Sasuke lay there and pulled air into his lungs as Naruto continued to stare at him. For the first time, Sasuke considered how ridiculous he must look. Clad in shorts and a shredded high-collar Uchiha shirt, with blood everywhere and…they both looked down to see his sandals still smoking as the fire he’d accidentally blasted from them continued to smolder.

“Aw crap!” swore Naruto as he slapped at the smoking boots with his bare hands. “If this place gets set on fire, Chiyoke-San will kill me!” Sasuke wrenched open the straps on the sandals and pulled his feet free, only to stop and stare as Naruto clamped his hands down over a tongue of flame with a glare of determination, even as the smell of cooked meat filled the room.

“Hey, idiot! You do it like this!”

He picked up the second sandal and began beating it against the floor checking each time as the smoke diminished each time. When the threat of a burning building had receded, both children looked at each other, then promptly gagged as the smell of burnt rubber began to register with their nostrils. Sasuke rose and opened the window he’d just come through, while Naruto flung the offending pair out into the street.

They both stood there in silence for a moment before Naruto rounded on Sasuke.

“So what the hell is this Sasuke? What the hell made you come falling into my window at 10 PM at night? Are you trying to do what that weird guy did yesterday at the Academy? Falling out of the sky isn’t a very good jutsu, y’know?”

Sasuke knew he had an answer, had a whole list of reasons for coming out here, for finding Naruto, but he just couldn’t say them. He lifted a hand and pointed.

“Your hat is stupid.” He said simply.

Naruto frowned, and his gap-toothed nightcap seemed to frown with him. Sasuke blinked and rubbed vigorously at his eyes.

“What, Gamatochi? He’s great!” Naruto threw an offended glare right back at Sasuke. “Don’t go around pretending you’re superior when you’re just jealous of my comfy night cap.”

“But I am superior,” he pointed out, smirking slightly at how goofy the other boy looked.

“Really Sasuke? You can’t be happy with beating me at everything in class, now you’ve gotta come after me at home too? You’re a real piece of work, y’know?”

Sasuke shook his head and collected his thoughts. “It’s not like that at all, Naruto. I needed to find you, so I asked around at the hospital and they told me to look here, which is a really nasty place to live, so I followed your spray paint, but I couldn’t get down, so I jumped, because I had to prove myself, so uh, here I am.” He finished lamely, flapping his arms and wincing as his inner elbow twitched in sharp pain. Naruto was looking at him with concern now, eyes roaming across the twinging point on his forehead, which Sasuke realized must’ve been bleeding, plus the scrapes on his hands, knees, and scuffed-up socks. Sasuke brought his hand up and started as it came back bright red. Suddenly, he felt very, very awake and looked back at Naruto who nodded in understanding.

“I’ll go see if I have any first aid stuff Iruka-sensei might have given me. You just, uh,” he gestured at the table, which was covered in scattered instant ramen cups and mismatched chopsticks. “Sit there for now.”

“Right.”

Sasuke lowered himself into the chair as Naruto bustled off, watching the still angry hat bob away. It had eyes on the back too. He sighed as he realized how absolutely insane he’d sounded. And now that the excitement of the “hunt” had worn off, what the heck was he really doing here? Following advice from a man in a dream? Who was probably an enemy ninja who’d only spoken the name of his clan before passing out, bleeding in the sandbox yesterday?

At least he had a name, that was something. And a goal, to use Naruto to get the Hokage to talk to the man, though he still had no idea why a loud, foul-mouthed idiot who even other villagers seemed to hate would have any pull with the Hokage.

He looked up as a clattering came from somewhere beyond the door and took in the rest of Naruto’s apartment. The inside was just as shabby as the outside, if not more so. He could see more instant ramen packs, sealed this time, stacked against the far wall in a pyramid, even as a mold streak above it highlighted how bad an idea that was. The stove had burn marks on the edges, while even at this hour the refrigerator rattled as if it was about to give out at any moment. An orange shirt and several pairs of pants were flung across the back of the only other chair. Sasuke idly picked up a bright pink chopstick that looked unused and moved it through his fingers, thinking.

He'd figured Naruto was a slob, but this apartment wasn’t just untidy, it looked downright unhealthy to live in. He heard shouting outside and the sound of glass shattering, as if to emphasize his point, but it was clear to Sasuke that Naruto did not live in a nice neighborhood. He needed a way to convince Naruto to help him and the Uchiha compound was only a few blocks away… He continued to spin the chopstick across his fingers and winced as it rapped across his bloody palm. Ok not the best idea.

He set down the chopstick as Naruto came clattering back in with a cardboard box full of antiseptic, bandages, cough medicine, plasters, and even a needle and thread. “So it turns out Iruka-sensei gave me this whole box of stuff I totally forgot about a while ago, ‘cause I don’t really get hurt much. Well, I get hurt a lot during training, but it never really sticks around.” He grinned sheepishly. “I heal pretty fast, so take whatever you need.”

Sasuke nodded and the ingrained response from his mother slipped out on its own. “Thank you, Naruto.”

The Uzumaki stared at him as if Sasuke was the one wearing a stupid Gamatochi hat.

Sasuke, began to squirt antiseptic onto his hands and winced as he rubbed them together. “Look, could you hand me that bandage? That kunai really shredded my hands coming down.”

“You just thanked me. Like, really thanked me. No sarcasm at all.”

He rolled his eyes as he accepted the roll and began winding it across his palm. “Yeah, yeah. Gloat about it all you want while I use up your medical supplies.”

Naruto grinned and pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, brushing some of the empty ramen cups off to the center of the table. “So really. What’s got you flying through my window at night anyway?” He leaned to look out the window. “Was anyone chasing you? Because if so, Anbu-San would have scared them off, y’know.”

“No, no one was chasing me, I just did something stupid because I haven’t been getting enough sleep. Look, I’ll start from the beginning, just pass me that gauze, my head’s bleeding like crazy.”

Naruto stared as Sasuke cleaned and bound his injuries with the kind of professionalism he’d only seen at the Konoha hospital. “You’re pretty good at medical stuff too, y’know.”

“I know.” Snapped Sasuke. “Are you going to let me tell the story or not?”

“Look it’s my house that got invaded by a crazy Uchiha, not the other way ‘round! You oughta be more respectful, especially when I saved your butt.”

Sasuke nearly grabbed for the pink chopstick at the words ‘crazy Uchiha’ but stopped when he felt his hand twinge in pain. As much as it galled him to admit it, Naruto was right. He was technically breaking into Naruto’s house, so he could tell him this insane story. Instead Sasuke relaxed his fist and sighed, pulling his hair back from his face.

“Ok. Ok. Here’s the story. So you remember the guy who ‘fell out of the sky’”, he mimed quotation marks with his hands. “He said my last name, my clan name before he passed out in the sandbox and all the teachers moved us away. I’m the last Uchiha, except maybe not because I had this really vivid dream last night about him. He got into my head somehow with these two other guys in white, and they were all fighting each other.”

Naruto sat forward, drawing his knees up under him in an expression of intense interest and staring as Sasuke, who, for once met his eyes. They were startlingly blue. “Whaddya mean in your head, like a genjutsu? I thought this guy was in the hospital or something, from all the blood.”

“Yes. No, I don’t know.” Sasuke admitted. “It was a dream, but I remember it so clearly, even now, so it couldn’t have been a regular one.” He briefly outlined the figures who had fought in his dream, sometimes in defiance of gravity, then paused as a thought struck him.

“How did you get that spraypaint all over the building anyway? The teachers at the Acadamy haven’t taught us how to walk on walls yet.”

Naruto grinned and scratched his hair in a way that made the lines on his face stand out. “Oh yeah, that. Last week I was painting on Old Man Kurotichi’s busted-up shop when Anbu-san started chasing me, yelling about proper respect for property.” Naruto made a pouting face for a moment and switched right back to that cheery grin, which Sasuke found slightly disconcerting.

“So I ran for it and made Anbu-san chase me all over the building until the paint was used up, then I threw it at his head.” Naruto cackled, sounding like the proverbial fox in the proverbial henhouse. “He caught it of course, but I managed to give him the slip and hid in my apartment all day until he had to go home and another Anbu-san showed up.”

Sasuke absorbed that. “You managed to hide from a member of the Anbu Black Ops? How?”

Now Naruto was giggling. “Well, y’know, it’s all about knowing the places in the Leaf Village they can’t go, or don’t think to look, or don’t want to look. I hid from Mongoose-san in the girl’s locker room ‘cause he’s a guy, hid from Monkey-san in the dryer of one of the laundromats, and hid from Cat-san right under her nose in the Anbu Lounge of their headquarters. It’s super fun, even if I get caught. ‘Cause then they just drag me in front of Jiji in his office and he takes off the Hokage hat and says all sorts of things like,

Here, Naruto sucked his cheeks in, clasped his hands in front of his face, and performed a decent impression of the Third Hokage. “You need to learn to respect other people’s belongings and instead of these ridiculous stunts, focus on your studies.”

He broke down into laughter and, to his surprise, Sasuke found himself smirking too. He’d only met the Hokage twice, once after That Day, and once a few months ago when he had needed to sign some papers to keep the Uchiha Estate under his name. It was an excellent impression.

“Ok, now I get it.” He said, raising a hand in acceptance. “Now I see.”

“See what?”

“That dream-thing I had, the Uchiha said I should find you if I wanted to talk to the Hokage. It seemed like he knew you and I, somehow.”

“That’s because I’m just awesome and wear lots of orange, right? You’re a different kind of awesome, like, more lame.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes but didn't dignify that with a response.

“Anyway, this guy in the dream called himself Indra Uchiha and told me to come find you if the Hokage’s office turned me away, which they did today. So I came, and I jumped off a building, and I found you.”

There was silence in the little apartment.

“So, that’s the story.”

Naruto kept looking at the floor.

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

Naruto looked up, with that big grin plastered all over his face. “Well of course you came to me! Like I said, I’m gonna be Hokage, so this guy obviously knew I’m a big deal. He told you to find me so I can yell at Jiji to let him talk to you! I’m super good at that, y’know!”

“So he said.” Sasuke studied Naruto as he babbled on and on about how great he was and what he was going to do when he was Hokage.

“Look,” he said, breaking into Naruto’s description of his face on the Hokage Monument, “If you think I’m crazy, just tell me, ok? You don’t have to lie.”

Naruto’s face fell and the smile was gone instantly. Instead he looked at Sasuke with the same sorrow Sasuke still saw if he looked in the mirror too long, or saw photographs, or wandered into the wrong house in the Uchiha district. Years of sorrow, self-loathing, and misery were rolled up in that gaze, only to be obscured as Naruto wiped his eyes with the hem of his sleeve.

“I don’t think you’re lying, Sasuke. Really. It’s nice that you found someone, maybe a whole bunch of someones like you again.”

He pushed back his chair, but Sasuke still heard the last sentence, muttered under his breath. “At least _you_ don’t have to be alone anymore.”

He could have stabbed Sasuke through the heart and it would have hurt less. Loneliness is not just an emotion that one feels for a few minutes or a few hours, late at night in a house. It accumulates, like Naruto’s ramen cups, or Sasuke’s ninja scrolls, in corners and in the empty spaces of one’s heart. It builds, day after day, month after month, as holidays, test scores, and meals pass without anyone to share them with. They both had teachers who cared about them in a disinterested, academic way, but not really. They both had no one.

Sasuke’s throat swelled up as he stared at Naruto, as Naruto’s shoulders hunched forward and he moved away. Sasuke’s hand shot out and grabbed Naruto by the shoulder. The Uzumaki twisted to throw him off as Sasuke moved forward until both boys were rolling on the floor, crying, screaming, and throwing punches at one another.

This was not the semi-dignified sparring matches at the Academy, where Sasuke’s cool head overcame Naruto’s hot-headed charges. This was not an exchange of punches, kicks, grapples, and acrobatics. This was a brawl, an emotional crescendo that had been a long time coming.

Naruto tore off Sasuke’s bandage and scratched at him until his forehead began to bleed again. Sasuke headbutted Naruto so hard something went _crunch_ in his nose. They both brought knees up between each other’s legs. Sasuke was slugged in the jaw, sending bloody spit flying and felt one of his teeth loosen under the assault. Naruto had his jaw clack shut from a vicious elbow. The racket continued as someone downstairs began banging on the floor. This was beyond schoolyard rivalries and had entered into something deeper, a venting of anger and loss that had never been expressed.

They had no idea how long it went on, only that it wound down as they lay tangled in the legs of the chairs underneath the kitchen table, surrounded by scattered medical supplies, dust bunnies, and drops of blood.

There was silence for a while before Sasuke spoke.

“Look, it’s not like I’m suddenly going to waltz back home with _one big happy family_.” He spat the words as if they physically pained him. “Hell, I don’t even know this guy and he just falls right in front of me, bleeding all over me, like I needed that again, and says my Clan name.” He glared over at Naruto who saw that his eyes had turned blood red, with a single black mark within. “Like I need any more family, my fucking insane brother killed every one of them and made me watch it all over again. He left me alive out of some sick joke, or because he wants me to be like him, or something. I don’t fucking know.” He cursed again and pulled himself into a seated position with one of the table legs, only to hit his head on the underside once more.

Naruto just stared, bright blue locked on to blood-red.

“My parents are dead too, y’know? Never knew ‘em, who they were, what they looked like. Jiji just shows up once a month with some money and says to spend it wisely.” Sasuke saw his eyes were welling up with tears and pooling on the floor next to his cheek.

“I shouted at him once, asked him if he could tell me anything about my parents, how they died, at least. But he just left. So I started shouting at him about other stuff. Stuff I heard from the girls downstairs when I ran errands for them. Stuff about girls getting hurt, people disappearing. Bad stuff.”

He rolled onto his side and continued to address the underside of the table.

“One of the Aburame kids went missing, y’know. Last month. His dad came down here, went to Hozuchi’s. I found him the next morning, passed out in the street.”

Sasuke nodded in agreement. “This world’s a fucked up place.”

“Yeah.” Naruto leaned forward until he could rest his head on Sasuke’s leg. “At least we’re fucked up together.”

At that, Sasuke started to laugh. It was a hesitant chuckle at first, but grew until they both were crying again, holding their sides from the pain.

Something changed then, though both boys couldn’t have told you if you’d asked. Something settled, like sand as the tide washes back to the sea. Something permanent.

They slept there under the table, where the Anbu shift change found them the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I'm uploading a day early, I'm excited!
> 
> I always thought it would be somewhat funny if the Indra-Ashura fight happened when the incarnations were children. No colossal battles of power, no grand ideological debate, just two kids kicking each other. I was a little iffy about having Sasuke a) swear and b) tell Naruto about Itachi, but I feel like the scene is emotionally charged enough that it works in context. Naruto accidentally steps on the big red button labeled Parental Abandonment and boom goes the exploding tag.
> 
> I'll be trying to work in comedy and situations that balance out the angst and exposition, so please let me know in the comments if you like something or don't like it. I'm trying to improve all sorts of areas in my writing and I hope you enjoy the story.


	6. A New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke has several ideas and Naruto has breakfast.

Sasuke was woken up by a foot nudging at his side and he rolled away, only to shriek as he toppled away from the table leg he’d been leaning on. He caught himself with his arms, then winced as the cuts on his palms reopened. Naruto sniggered slightly, but neither spoke.

Together they collected the medical supplies as Sasuke changed the bandages or replaced the ones Naruto had torn off. Neither spoke about the previous night, but the air was calm. Something had changed.

Once the supplies had been collected, they started in on the blood. Naruto’s quarter-roll of paper towels was soon exhausted, so Sasuke gestured at his ruined shirt. “Might as well use this, it’s already done for anyway.” He pulled it over his head and they used it to mop up the last drops, heedless of the stains it left on the Uchiha fan.

Naruto jerked his head towards a doorway to Sasuke’s left. “Shower’s straight through there. Soap n’stuff is on the left. If you’re lucky you’ll get some hot water, but Chiyoke-san never gives me any.”

Both their voices were hoarse, but neither commented on it. Sasuke silently nodded and closed the door behind him. As he mechanically went through the motions of undressing and figuring out the shower, which was indeed ice-cold no matter which way he turned it, he re-evaluated Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto was loud, obnoxious, rude, foolish, and gross. He always had the wrong answer in class, if he bothered to pay attention or even show up. His clone jutsu was pathetic and his dream of becoming Hokage was a fool’s fantasy. Still…

Naruto had pulled him through that window late at night and shared his meagre medical supplies without prompting. He had let Sasuke sleep in his house, even after they had fought like that and seemed to ignore that Sasuke had broken his nose. He wasn’t given hot water by his landlord and when an unknown man with a knife had asked where to find Uzumaki Naruto, the villagers had laughed and wished him good luck.

Sasuke had thought the worst thing in the world was to be looked at with pity by others.

He didn’t think they thought about Naruto at all. If they did, it was with hate.

Sasuke thought that was worse.

He stepped out of the shower to find Naruto’s jacket and another pair of worn sandals, all orange and blue, laid carefully next to the sink. To his relief, his pants and underwear remained untouched. Sasuke didn’t think he could handle Naruto messing around with his underwear. Hair still slightly damp despite the towel, he walked out to find Naruto wearing his old white shirt and green shorts stacking the unopened ramen cups that had fallen over from their fight.

“Shower’s free.” Sasuke remarked. “You were right though, no hot water.”

Naruto seemed to expect this and passed into the bathroom. “I’ll be out in a minute, hang on.”

Sasuke sat down at the table and idly began to match the scattered chopsticks as he continued to think. Naruto could outrun and outsmart the Anbu Black Ops and knew them enough to identify specific members, even if they were going easy on him. He knew the Hokage well enough to call him _Jiji_ , and paid attention to what happened in his district, even if the people despised him. Villagers loathed him and neither of them knew why.

Indra Uchiha, if that was his real name, seemed to want Sasuke to find Naruto and the more Sasuke thought, the more he seemed to agree. He hadn’t been able to get an appointment out of the sickly smiling chunin in the Administrative building but, with Naruto’s knowledge of the Anbu and his ability to be ear-splittingly loud when he wanted to, Sasuke could see possibilities. At least, if Naruto could keep his mouth shut and not be a blabbermouth. But then, Naruto had plenty of questions he wanted answers to as well.

He looked up as Naruto re-emerged, wearing the same clothes as well as his familiar goggles, and pulled a plate from the fridge with a grin. Sasuke stared as Naruto sat across from him in the cramped kitchen and began to eat.

“Are those…”

“Wildt Mushroomsh!” grinned Naruto around a mouthful of the stuff.

Sasuke took a tentative bite of an enormous one, shrugged, and continued eating.

“They grow out near the Naka River or near the training grounds, an’ I pick ‘em if I’ve eaten too much Ichiraku ramen, if I need to wait for money from Jiji, or if the shopkeepers raise prices again.”

Sasuke swallowed heavily and resolved to take smaller bites. Naruto had already eaten half the plate and was likely to eat the other quarter. They were very big mushrooms, to be fair.

“Do you have, like, a budget? That helps.”

Sasuke knew about budgets. As the sole Uchiha, the accumulated wealth of one of the Four Noble Clans of Konoha would last him a long time indeed, but Sasuke had to sign a great many budgets and land deeds the last time he’d had to see the Hokage. Naruto shrugged and looked deliberately casual.

“Oh yeah, but like I said, sometimes the shops around here and down in the marketplace switch things around and charge me more for stuff. Say I shouldn’t be greedy. And it’s supposed to be my birthday, too,” he added under his breath.

Sasuke, whose thoughts had been bubbling under the surface, boiled over and he lunged forward to grab Naruto’s arm.

“What, you want the last one? Go ahead.”

“That’s not it. Naruto, when’s your birthday?”

The blonde gave him an odd look.

“October 10th, why?”

Sasuke let go and cast about the room wildly for a calendar.

“Because that’s the week when all Uchiha were confined to the District! Father made it an official Police Order, too. I remember because he got yelled at a lot because of it, but he would never change his mind.”

Naruto shrugged. “What’s that got to do with anything? It’s the same day the Kyuubi attacked and everyone’s got a chip on their shoulders about it. People get drunk and call me cursed, daemon-spawn, just ‘cause I was born on the same day. Just dummies getting superstitious, y’know?”

Sasuke shook his head. “No, no, no, don’t you get it? Your birthday, the Kyuubi attack, my Clan hiding in our district, they’re all linked. I’ve got other stuff I want to ask Hokage-sama about too, like my mom! Maybe we can find out about your parents too!”

The boy across from him lit up like the sun and Sasuke felt the need to shield his eyes. “You really mean that? What makes you think Jiji will answer you when he never told me anything?”

Sasuke drew himself up and put on his most pompous, arrogant expression. “I am technically the Head of the Uchiha Clan and as such, have a seat on the Konoha Council.” He matched Naruto’s grin with his own. “The Hokage _has_ to answer my questions.”

Naruto leapt out of his chair, suddenly a white and yellow blur as he ran around the room.

“Are you sure? Are you really really sure, y’know?”

“I’m sure.”

Naruto cheered, then froze as Sasuke somehow managed to put a hand on his arm.

“I’m going to need to go home to get some stuff for the Hokage’s office.” He paused, torn between one possibility and the next, but shook it off. “Do you want to come with me? The compound is pretty close by.”

The look Naruto gave him could not have more clearly said “Duh” if he had spelled it out in fireworks.

In the light of day, the street looked even more shabby, the surrounding buildings even more run-down. Sasuke looked at the broken bottles and rubbish in the stairwell with disdain but said nothing. Naruto was probably embarrassed enough as it was. The boy drifted to the side as they reached the street and Sasuke looked around in irritation.

“Keep up, I want to get this done today.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep my shirt on,” muttered Naruto as he slid something into his back pocket.

“Whatever.”

It was late morning when they left and some of the shops were still open, even on a Sunday. Sasuke saw a few residents stare in surprise as Naruto trailed along after the boy wearing his jacket and could feel their stares. He turned and opened his mouth before Naruto elbowed him in the side.

“Ignore them,” he muttered, “they’re wondering why the wonder of the Uchiha is down here with us.”

The “Wonder of the Uchiha” said nothing, but unbeknownst to either child, his eyes blazed red every step of the way out of Kanrakugai District.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's more of a connector chapter and part of me is irritated that my chapters just don't all end up the same length, but it's not like I'm publishing this. Wait...
> 
> Just wanted to touch on something: Last chapter when Sasuke was going to fall, one of the Anbu was about to step in. They wouldn't let the Uchiha heir actually fall to his death in a rainstorm.


	7. A Rare Ceremony, The Fox Stirs.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Sasuke dig up the past and visit the Hokage. To dig up even more of the past.

As soon as he saw the familiar red and white fan of the Uchiha on the estate walls, Sasuke began to relax. The Uchiha Estate and the Police Compound had both been built next to a prison, impregnable and inviolate, their own little slice of the village. Of course, that also left it painfully empty.

Naruto was gazing around as if every tree and shingle were brand new. Sasuke shuddered slightly, unsettled at how enthusiastic Naruto was when Sasuke could still see That Day if he closed his eyes.

“-your own hot springs, your own yard, all sorts of stuff! Anyway, what are you even gonna get here, anyway?”

Sasuke beckoned for Naruto to follow him and took a path towards the main entrance to his home. He may have been showing off just a little.

“First, a change of clothes, so you can have your jacket back. It’s yours and I shouldn’t be wearing it after I’ve already smashed your window and everything.”

Naruto chuckled and swung his arms behind his head and for the first time, Sasuke could see that his smile was genuine. “No problem! That’s hospitality, y’know?”

“Exactly. So I’m going to wear something more formal, or as formal as I can,” he added, glancing down at his skinny frame. “The formal Clan Head robes won’t work, but I’ve got my Father’s Official Seal and the Clan Scrolls, which you’ll need to help me carry.”

The blonde’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. Even though he hadn’t paid attention in class that much, Clan Scrolls were still a really big deal.

“Carefully.” Sasuke added as they turned the corner. “Carry them carefully.”

Naruto saluted, his hand at his forehead and adopted his own impression of a pompous noble. “Of course, Most Honored Clan Head Uchiha! It would be my honor to be crushed under the weight of the Ancient and most Venerable Scrolls.”

Sasuke barely noticed as they passed into his front garden.

“Where did you pick up the word venerable? You barely passed our last written test.”

“Hey, I pay attention sometimes, y’know!”

_____________________________

The walk from the Uchiha District to the center of the village was a long one, and they were not subtle. In fact, subtlety was the opposite of what Sasuke wanted to achieve. After replacing Naruto’s jacket with one of his own blue, high collared Uchiha shirts, Sasuke had excavated the dojo armory, still thick with dust, with conspicuous gaps in the weapon racks, and found a suit of armor that best fit him.

It was old, possibly from the First Great Ninja War, or before, when Clans sent their children to die and villages had not yet formed as they were now. Sasuke had found a set, likely ceremonial, that had been constructed for one Uchiha child or another. Likely another son of a Clan Head, but beyond that it was impossible to say. The armor was bright red, with some kind of lacquer that made it shine in the sun. The main _do_ chestplate, as well as the _sode_ and _kasazuri_ plates on his shoulders and thighs were heavy and he could already tell he was going to sweat through this shirt, though the Uchiha symbol on the back stood proudly, a sign that the Uchiha never took a wound in the back and always faced their enemy. If that was also how they could use their Sharingan, well, it helped the legend. And today, Sasuke was leaning on the Legend of the Uchiha pretty hard. He silently whispered a prayer to his ancestors, particularly the legendary Madara, that he did not shame them, that he did not look like a fool. The short sword strapped to his belt helped at least, as well as the bandage on his forehead. He thought the Sasuke in the mirror looked intimidating.

Behind him, Naruto carried the massive Scroll Sasuke had been pouring over for the last day and a half. He’d declined to wear any robes, perhaps wisely, but did enjoy the large conical _jingasa_ hat that hid his face from onlookers and occasionally jingled small bells to warn of their passage. His orange jacket was still a dead giveaway though. The Scroll was, as Sasuke had promised, heavy, but it seemed to get lighter the further they traveled into the village, as they drew closer to the Hokage Mountain. Jiji had all sorts of old scrolls like that, usually big, and from far away, with strange rules. One marked with the symbol of the Hidden Stone had to be chained down, else it would float off back towards its mountain home far to the west.

They walked down Blossom Boulevard, past the training grounds, where ninja turned in surprise at hearing the bells, then at seeing samurai armor in the village rather than green flak jackets. Every twenty or so steps, Naruto would call out “Make way for the Lord Uchiha, make way, make way!” He was making progress, for Sasuke was twitching much less every time he said it. Every ninja or even civilian who thought to jeer or make some snide remark was swiftly silenced, if not by their fellows, then by the look on Sasuke’s face. This was important. This was his way to get information, information that could not be hidden or destroyed. This would remind the Leaf Village that the Uchiha Clan still lived, that they could, and should, still command respect. They had made contracts with dragons, the legends said, in those long-ago days before even Madara, when men shaped chakra and forged the first summoning contracts with blood and bone. On this day, Sasuke was Uchiha, and he was mighty.

It took two and a half long, hot, painful hours to reach the Administration Building and news had traveled ahead of them. The Hokage had assembled an Anbu guard and most of the village Council, including the Elders, the Jonin Commander Shikaku, and many of the Clan Heads. Sasuke nodded his head slightly as he saw the Akimichi, the Hyuga, and the Aburame among them. Hokage-sama had brought the other Noble Clans, good.

“We’re being taken seriously.” He whispered back to Naruto who, thank the Gods, had stopped his ridiculous announcements once he saw the Hokage.

“Is that a good thing?”

“I’ll let you know later.”

Sasuke swallowed and felt his mouth dry up, though the air of Konoha was still its usual hot and humid. He forced himself not to repeat the gesture and raised his right hand, the left clutched around the hilt of his short sword.

_“The Uchiha have come to the Hokage, by custom and law. As we are bound to the village, so is he. In the name of these, uh, ancient bonds, we seek counsel in this dark hour. The Hokage has broken our sacred bond and allowed the Clan to fail._

_Rise, O Fire Shadow, and hear the tidings of the Uchiha. By fire we were forged and in fire we are both bound. The Hokage has failed in his duties, as a protector of the Uchiha Clan, and the Clan has come seeking council. How shall he answer?_ ”

Sasuke had modified the traditional words of the proclamation, which had originally read “seeking vengeance”. The Uchiha in the past were very much in favor of vengeance and had sought it frequently. This time, at least, it was not directed at the Hokage. Sasuke could wear the armor and hold the blade, but one Uchiha could not take on the whole Hidden Village.

The crowd around them was silent, waiting for the Hokage’s response. One of the councilors, a man wrapped in bandages and leaning on a cane, whispered something and conspicuously turned away, back towards the tower. Dozens of ninja around them sucked in air or quietly cursed at the magnitude of the insult. In a formal petition such as this, to show one’s back implied one considered their opponent unworthy, or too cowardly to deal with and invited attack, if the opponent was to prove themselves worthy of consideration. Sasuke for one, brief instant, considered drawing his sword to answer the insult, but that was even worse. To bare steel in front of the Hokage was a different matter entirely and practically marked the offender as an enemy nin. He relaxed his grip on the sword and stepped forward, closing the distance once more. There was still a good hundred feet between them. He had time, though not much, to come up with a response. He did not see the shard of black metal that flew past his ear.

The broken kunai head landed just behind the councilor, point down in the packed earth. All the gathered ninja had heard it and a few of the Anbu had crouched in instinctive response, weapons drawn. Even the cicadas fell silent.

“We asked you a question.”

Naruto’s voice rang across the space between them, clear and hard. There was something deeper in it, something Sasuke couldn’t place, but he felt a chill run down his spine. He spun on the spot, poise gone, armor clattering, to glare at Naruto and somehow make him _shut up_ , make the last few seconds not have happened.

The Uzumaki still held his hand out, fingers splayed from where he had thrown the remnant of Sasuke’s kunai. The Scroll was upright, one side on the ground, straight in the air as Sasuke had read from the instructions. The shadow from his hat made it impossible to see his face, but Sasuke was sure Naruto could see the fury and horror emanating from every line of his own.

Naruto slowly, deliberately, brought his hand to his hat and tipped it in respect. In the silence, the bells jingled. Silently cursing Naruto’s children for five generations, Sasuke turned back to the Hokage.

“Apologies, Fire Shadow,” he managed. “It is midday and temperatures are quite high, as are the tempers of the Uchiha.”

That was good. An apology, tempered by a reminder of the Uchiha’s famous volatility. Not the best way to start a negotiation, but Naruto wasn’t an Uchiha anyway. He really was winging it at this point.

The Hokage nodded and for an instant, Sasuke could have sword he caught the slightest smirk on his weathered features.

“Understandable, Lord Uchiha. The Land of Fire is famous for its summers.” As if they had not both lived there all their lives. “Fortunately, we are famous for our hospitality as well. Councilor Danzo is getting on in years and needs to be reminded he is no longer envoy to the Mist Village, nor has he been appointed Hokage.”

Such a public rebuke! Sasuke had not been expecting that. Nor, seemingly, had Danzo, who was looking at the Hokage with the same amount of shock. But Sarutobi continued as if Danzo was invisible.

“ _The Fire Shadow accepts your petition, Lord Uchiha, and invites him to take council, as has long been the custom and right of the Great Clans of Konoha. No blades shall be bared, nor chakra consumed in anger as long as the trees of the Leaf stand._ ”

Sasuke bowed, slightly, at the waist to convey his gratitude without straying from the ritual. “ _Lord Uchiha accepts your petition and conditions_.”

He knelt and placed the tanto, undrawn, on the ground, where one of the Anbu received it and carried it to the Jonin Commander, who received it with all the dignity he would have given a visiting diplomat. Surprisingly, a second Anbu, with a shock of grey hair, also knelt and retrieved the kunai blade and gave it to the Jonin Commander, who received it the same as before. Sasuke followed the Hokage and his retinue into the building, his mind blazing through the ritual scroll he’d read only hours before. Even though it wasn’t part of the ritual, by offering the kunai as a ceremonial weapon, the Anbu had mitigated the gravity of Naruto’s action. In that context, it could be read as an initial exchange of weapons, a show of trust, though it was clearly anything but. Sasuke clattered his way up the circular staircase with Naruto right behind him and prayed once again to the Gods that Naruto hadn’t just exiled himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am an absolute sucker for ancient and formal ceremonies heavy with meaning, so I figured there would have been more protocol in the early days of the Hidden Villages. Clans who'd been fighting each other for decades wouldn't live smoothly side-by-side and the early days of community formation can be the most delicate and easily destroyed. So, Madara and Hashirama came up with a public formal complaint system the clans could use to air grievances or request help while retaining their pride.
> 
> In the present, imagining itty bitty Sasuke dressed up in itty bitty samurai armor is adorable and Naruto would take every opportunity to tease him about it. Of course, he's also capable of taking things seriously too.
> 
> All this writing and I've only covered the weekend, sheesh. Still, much of the beginning of a story involves setting up the dominoes and new relationships. Once again, please let me know what you like or don't like, I'm always trying to improve!


	8. Answers and the Headaches They Cause

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto and Sasuke meet with the Hokage and get answers to some of their questions.

The moment the door closed behind them, both Naruto and Sasuke exploded into apologies. They talked over one another, apologized for one another, and blamed each other in equal measure. However, they fell silent once again as the Hokage held up a hand. He still had not turned to look at them, looking out over the green expanse of Konoha. His hands moved in a series of signs too fast for Sasuke to follow and both Academy students felt as if a blanket had covered their heads, before the sensation passed. The Hokage turned back and motioned towards the desk. Sasuke saw with astonishment that he was, in fact, smiling.

“A silencing barrier has been erected around this office, so we may speak freely, without ceremony. I did appreciate the pomp and circumstance of your petition, though. It was a rare occasion even when I was young. ” He reached his desk and pulled out his pipe, seeming more a kindly old grandfather than the Fire Shadow of the Hidden Leaf. “The threat against Councilor Danzo, however, was not.” Ah, yes, there it was. The famous glare of the Professor.

Sasuke swallowed hard and glared at Naruto, who at least seemed to be deeply aware of how much he had screwed up. “But Jiji, that was so rude! We and you and everyone went to all this trouble to do a formal petition and that turnip-head insulted Sasuke! He insulted you, Jiji! Even I know that and Sasuke’s the one who read all the rules!”

The Hokage made a quick gesture and his pipe glowed, briefly, filling the room with the smell of sandalwood and strong tobacco. “Councilman Danzo has never been polite. He runs the Anbu Black Ops, so it is in his nature to be direct and to the point. He has always loathed such ceremony, save when it is for his benefit. And a formal Uchiha petition, in front of a good quarter of the village, is not to his benefit. It reminds the other Clan Heads of the village’s failure to protect the Uchiha Clan. It reminds Danzo that Itachi Uchiha was one of the Anbu under his command, technically, when he slaughtered your Clan.”

“What will happen then, Lord Hokage?” Sasuke glanced at Naruto, who looked similarly worried. “We have come with questions, but if we need to wait for things to calm down, we can return later.”

At that, Naruto looked ready to object, but the Hokage shook his head. “No, speak your questions now. Councilor Danzo’s dislike of the Uchiha is well known among the other Clans and this may have endeared you to some of them, if you can believe it. Still, his reach is long and the laws of the village quite clear. Naruto, keep out of trouble for at least a month, if you can.” He took a deep pull from his pipe, sounding resigned. “At least try not to paint the Hokage Monument again. And Sasuke, you should avoid wearing that armor or any kind of weapon in the streets in the near future. You may feel strong or powerful in that armor, but it is a suggestion that the village is no longer safe. It invites a return to inter-clan strife, and I trust your lessons have covered the Mist Village?”

Sasuke and Naruto both nodded. The Bloody Mist was a story many of the older genin, or the cynical chunin liked to frighten the Academy students with. Even Sasuke was not aware of that particular implication of his petition. He’d simply followed the instructions outlined in the Scroll.

“If I may be honest Lord Hokage, the armor doesn’t make me feel powerful, or any of that. It just made me nervous. And sweaty.” He added lamely, in an attempt to lighten the mood. He was joking! Sasuke Uchiha, the gloomy-guts of the Academy. Incredible.

The Hokage did chuckle, and continued to look at Sasuke over his pipe. Silent appraisal moved over him like a searchlight and Sasuke could almost feel as the old man’s gaze moved from him to Naruto. Sasuke took the opportunity to really look at the Hokage. He’d known the man was old, but up close Sasuke could see he looked _old_. The Sarutobi clan markings on his face hid the deep age lines, as well as laughter lines. He’d developed liver spots, and without the hat, Sasuke could see his hair was almost white, only a few strands of muddy brown left. Still, those eyes were sharp and Sasuke knew that the man known as the Professor had attained an age almost no active shinobi would reach, and through two World Wars. No, age had not dulled the Hokage, though it had slowed him just a fraction. He tuned back in to realize Naruto was still rambling about disrespect, that the Hokage had refused to tell him about his parents and had somehow managed to mention the Uchiha’s seclusion in their compound every October. The Hokage was listening silently, nearly inscrutable, though every few minutes, Sasuke caught a vein in his neck throbbing.

Not sure how else to interrupt Naruto’s stream-of-consciousness, he raised his hand as if they were in class and the Hokage obligingly smiled at him. This, fortunately, made Naruto trail off.

“So Sasuke, what questions did you have for me? They must have been important if you walked all the way here in such a manner.”

Sasuke collected his thoughts, some of which were still bouncing around outside screaming _He threw a knife at the head of the Anbu. That means I threw a knife at the head of Anbu! I’m going to die within the week!_

He clasped his hands in front of his face and leaned forward onto the desk. “Lord Hokage, as I’m sure you are aware, yesterday a man was able to infiltrate our village. Whatever jutsu he was using failed at the wrong moment, and he fell into the Academy grounds.” Academy grounds sounded more grown-up than playground, anyway. “He landed right in front of me and spoke the name of my clan before passing out from blood loss. He was heavily injured and missing an eye, but I am confident I had never seen that man before that moment. Then last night, I had a dream.”

He took a deep breath, but the Hokage was still listening. “What I am about to say will sound insane. I’m telling the truth though, really.”

Naruto was still listening, but the Hokage had raised one bushy eyebrow. Realizing he was sinking his own ship, Sasuke pressed on. “In my dream, I was in my home, exactly where I had been before I fell asleep. However, there was some kind of explosion that blew up the house and knocked me down. That man, along with two others had fallen sideways into my dream and continued to fight within. The Man in Black that passed out was called Indra, by one of the others, and ‘warrior’ by the second. He identified himself to me as…” he paused, trying to remember exactly how the man had said it. “Indra Uchiha, second of that name. But then, that was after the fight.”

The Hokage’s eyebrow remained raised, though his pipe had returned to his mouth. “Describe these others, then describe the fight. Details can come later Sasuke.”

“There were two other men, one young, one old. Both had pale skin, paler than mine, nearly white, or maybe grey and robes to match. Both had strange rings within their eyes and it seemed to be a bloodline technique. Indra Uchiha said they were the Ot-sut-suki Clan,” he recited, stumbling slightly over the unfamiliar syllables.

“Indra Uchiha was allied with the old man who he called Hagoromo, who had lines on his face, like yours, and a beard like yours. Actually, he looked a lot like you, except he had a big red circle-eye in the middle of his forehead too. He could float, though and had horns!”

“A demon?” Naruto looked excitedly at the Hokage. “Was that a demon, Jiji? Have you seen anyone like that before?”

The Hokage frowned and shook his head. “No, never. Describe this second man they were fighting.”

“He was younger, with yellow eyes. He’d followed Indra Uchiha from somewhere dangerous and he was really angry. He and Indra could both pull weapons from the air. He had a glowing white bow and Indra had a purple-ish sword. I think that was because it was a dream, though.”

“Focus, Sasuke.” Said the Hokage softly. His eyes were locked onto the young Uchiha, as were Naruto’s, both caught in the story as he described the fight. The speed, the defiance of gravity and grievous wounds. The bloodstains that remained even when he’d woken up.

“I didn’t want to touch it, just in case.”

“A wise decision. I will send a team back with you, with your permission, to collect this evidence and replace the floorboards.”

Sasuke nodded gratefully and plunged ahead. “The Yellow-Eyed man stayed stuck on the ceiling, but he didn’t really seem to be hurt by it, just inconvenienced.” Sasuke pointed at his chest. “It wasn’t a nick or his clothing. All the way through.”

Beside him, Naruto shivered. “I wouldn’t like to meet someone who could walk off being impaled.”

Sasuke ignored him and continued, though the Hokage’s eyes flicked to the Uzumaki for just an instant. “The Old Man-“

“Hagoromo”

“Hagoromo said that the Yellow-Eyed Man had followed Indra through some kind of hole in space-time and that it was very dangerous. The Yellow-Eyed Man said something about a seal, which is how I think Indra fell off our roof.”

The Hokage’s eyes flicked once again to Naruto and this time both children noticed it.

“Both Hagoromo and Indra were surprised to see me. I don’t think they meant to be in my dream or were surprised there were other people around. Indra seemed to find it funny, but not really. You know, a laugh that isn’t ha-ha laughter. The Yellow-Eyed Man pulled himself off the sword while they were distracted and jumped at me with one of his arrows.”

“What happened?” gasped Naruto, clutching at the arms, then the back of his seat as he squirmed in excitement.

“I-uh, I blew a fireball at him. The Katon Jutsu my Father taught me. He said every Uchiha needed to learn at least the Fireball Jutsu.”

At this the Hokage let out a guffaw of laughter, a brief bark of mingled surprise and humor. “He’d be proud Sasuke, especially in a situation like that. But my apologies, we keep interrupting you.”

Sasuke felt as if his face would set itself on fire without any chakra input of his own. Oh Gods, he was blushing in front of Naruto, he’d be mocked until the end of time. “So obviously, he didn’t really like that. Indra tried to get me away from him and his eye changed from the normal Sharingan into something else.”

He looked nervously at Naruto, but he Hokage waved at him to continue. “As I said, speak freely. Naruto is a part of this too, now.”

Sasuke took a deep breath. He’d never told anyone else, had never even breathed a word of what happened That Night to anyone beyond the Hokage and an Anbu doctor, who didn’t really count.

“He had the Mangekeyo Sharingan, I think. It looked different than my brother’s, with less red and more black. It looked like this.” He began to draw shapes in the air, but the Hokage pushed a pen and a piece of paper towards him. Sasuke idly noted an expense form for 25 sets of grey plated armor. He drew the design as best he could and pushed it back across the desk. The Hokage nodded, face grave.

“I will check the S-Class records for any examples, though Itachi, damn him, made off with the Uchiha Scroll on Sharingan variations.”

 _Sharingan variations_. Sasuke silently filed that away for later research.

“So he was trying to save me, pushing me behind him, and when his eye did that, he shouted something about the Sun Goddess and had a bunch of black flames start burning the Yellow-Eyed Guy too.”

“Black Flames? So cool!” Naruto was swiftly shut down by the Hokage.

“This is not a laughing matter, Naruto. The black flames of Amaterasu are a legacy of the Uchiha and the Mangekeyo Sharingan since the days of Madara, possibly before. The legends say they are a result of the clan’s binding pact with the dragons, but that is likely just myth. Sasuke, what else?”

“The old man, Hagoromo, didn’t seem to mind the flames, neither did the Yellow-Eyed Man. He told Indra to ‘redeem the Uchiha Clan’ and ‘do what he wanted’ before he made a swirling vortex in the air and dragged the Yellow-Eyed Man in with him. That was the end of the fight part.”

Naruto sat back in his chair as the exciting part of the story concluded, but Sasuke continued. “I asked and Indra said he wasn’t with Itachi. He said there were other Uchiha survivors, but they weren’t with him.” Sasuke counted off on his fingers as Indra had done. “Me and him, then Itachi, then one more he was sure of in a place called Akatsoki, no that’s not it, Akatsuki. He said there was one more survivor, but also said that he was dead so he didn’t count.”

Naruto and the Hokage both had raised eyebrows now. “Dead and alive are pretty different Sasuke. You can’t be both.”

“Perhaps,” murmured the Hokage.

“He said this last guy had plans to come back, but that it didn’t matter right now. He also was surprised to be back in the Uchiha Estate, and the Leaf Village. Because I didn’t recognize him, I asked why he left. He was older than Itachi, but younger than my parents, if that helps. He said he’d left the village for a bunch of reasons, like hunting a traitor to the Clan and Village politics, he also said he wanted to get stronger, which is weird because all the Uchiha teachers are-“

He paused.

“were in the Leaf Village. He also said something about hatred and said he had a daughter who died. When I asked about her he got really mad, but apologized and said he didn’t want to talk about her. He told me to go talk to you when I woke up and if I couldn’t talk to you, to find Naruto. He said ‘Naruto is really good at yelling at the Hokage’.”

“Yup, of course I am!” grinned Naruto, standing dramatically between his seat and the Hokage’s desk. “I gotta be if I’m going to be Hokage, y‘know!”

The Hokage glared at him and Naruto sheepishly climbed off the desk.

“Naruto, have you ever heard or seen this man at all before yesterday?”

Blonde hair moved back and forth. “No Jiji, not at all. I don’t know how he knows how good I am at yelling. Maybe he heard me?”

The Hokage didn’t answer, staring at his desk. They sat in silence for a few minutes as they all thought about Sasuke’s story. “Sasuke, in light of this story, I’ll be placing an Anbu guard on you. Naruto is already well aware of his Anbu guards, but I beg you both, as the Hokage, as a father, do not try to run away from them. They are and have always been to keep you safe. That is the duty of the Anbu, behind it all. They keep us safe.”

Naruto and Sasuke stared across the desk. The Third Hokage seemed to have aged as they had waited, something heavy settling across his shoulders and bowing his aged head, which now seemed frightfully small and fragile without the Hokage hat. They nodded in agreement, though Naruto was a bit more vocal about it.

“Now Sasuke, Naruto mentioned something about the Uchiha Estate earlier, do you have anything else to ask?”

“Yes Lord Hokage. What Naruto said is true, I am concerned about what I remember of the Uchiha in October. Just around the period the Kyuubi demolished the village and Naruto was born. Three separate incidents, but all happened on October 10th. What are we missing?”

The Hokage turned his glare upon Sasuke, weighing him, evaluating him. He felt the press of powerful chakra all around him and felt Naruto flare and sputter as his own instinctively rose alongside in in instinct. But they were matches against the ocean entire. The Third’s chakra enveloped them, bowled them over. They couldn’t see it, but they could almost smell it, so thick was its potency. Sasuke gagged and nearly threw up the mushrooms he’d had earlier.

Then it was gone on one of the summer breezes that wafted through the windows. Both of them sucked in air as their bodies instinctively sought to acclimate to pressure that was not there and had nothing to do with air.

“Very well. Sasuke, Naruto, I am about to tell you an S-Class Secret, one you must only reveal in life-threatening circumstances, and only, _only_ , if there is no other way. I want you to swear on the Leaf, you will keep this promise, on the graves of your ancestors.”

They looked at each other and nodded. “Go for it Jiji.”

The Hokage took a final long pull on his pipe. “Naruto, that your birthday and the Kyuubi attack fall on the same day is no coincidence. Your mother held the beast inside her under a seal, to protect the Leaf Village, and that day, the creature broke free. Your mother Kushina Uzumaki and your father sealed half the beast inside of you to save the Leaf and to save you. They died putting themselves between you and the Kyuubi, an act of heroic sacrifice.”

Naruto’s eyes were brimming with tears, but he stayed silent. “Your father hoped you would be seen as a hero for containing the Nine-Tails, as your mother sometimes was, but hatred against the jinchuriki runs deep, especially as time passed. Many ninja and citizens of the Hidden Leaf lost their lives that night, and many of the survivors hold it against you.”

“So I really am the demon fox?” he whispered, but the Hokage shook his head.

“No. It is sealed inside of you, with one of the last, most powerful seals the Uzumaki ever developed.” His voice lightened and some of his old jocularity returned. “They were great funinjutsu masters, the Uzumaki. I only learned a little of the art, and only from my mentor, the Second Hokage. The Uzumaki were scattered to the winds shortly after I became Hokage, but they live on in you and in the Hidden Leaf.” He tapped his shoulder. “We kept the red spiral you see on the shoulders and backs of our ninja to remind ourselves of our old allies, the Uzumaki. They may be gone, but they left us many seals, including those which keep the village safe. They are at our back and shoulders in the most literal way. Your mother, Kushina, was a great ninja, even with the fox inside of her.” He chuckled as Naruto’s gaze was locked on him, but the boy was drinking in every word, as was Sasuke.

“They called her the “Hot-Blooded Habanero” because of her hair and her temper on the battlefield. The mark of the Uzumaki has always been red hair, but in this case, your father’s genes overruled hers. Perhaps the only time in his life he won an argument, really. So, if you encounter a ninja with deep red hair, you never know, they might be descended from an Uzumaki.”

Sasuke spoke up from behind his clasped hands which helpfully allowed him to bring his jaw back from the floor surreptitiously. “But what does this have to do with the Uchiha? You said the Leaf failed the Uzumaki, you’ve failed the Uchiha, and Naruto hasn’t exactly been doing well either.”

He ignored both of their protests. The Hokage was saying something about secrecy and the village’s enemies, while Naruto was protesting that he was doing just fine, thank you. Sasuke glared at his…what was he? He’d carried the Scroll for him and challenged one of the Elders so technically he was Sasuke’s responsibility as an Uchiha. But the Hokage had just finished telling him all about the Uzumaki and the Nine-Tails which…wow. That was a lot. Sasuke thought about their fight and the mushrooms Naruto had offered him that morning, which already seemed like it had happened years ago. What was Naruto Uzumaki?

 _Friend_ , thought Sasuke. _Friend is nice_.

He tuned back in to Naruto berating the Third Hokage about better rent, or at least some hot water for his apartment, saying that if he was going to be a walking cage for the daemon fox that killed his parents, a little extra cash from the Hokage wasn’t too much to ask for. If it was anyone else, Sasuke would have called it extortion, but the Third was looking rather miserable.

“As I said, Lord Third, what does this have to do with the Uchiha?”

If the Hokage had looked miserable before, he now looked like he was considering just giving Naruto the hat and going back into retirement. “Just like…” he stopped and drew himself back up and give them the Professor glare. Sasuke felt his confidence melt away like ice cream in the Konoha sun.

“You both had best watch your tone with me, boys. You may be representing the Uchiha and Uzumaki today, but I am still the Hokage of the Leaf. Remember to whom you are speaking.”

Sasuke didn’t let up. “You’re avoiding the question.”

“What’s one more S-Class secret? Why not? We’re just handing them out to children today!” the Third remarked to him or, perhaps, to himself. Sasuke wasn’t sure.

“Fine. The Mangekeyo Sharingan the Uchiha are capable of wielding was one of the few bloodline traits capable of controlling the Nine-Tails, as well as the other Tailed Beasts spread across the continent. Lord Hashirama’s Wood Style was another, as is Hidden Cloud’s Twelve-Point Lightning Binding and the Hidden Sand’s Scorpion Scrolls. The Leaf possessed the mightiest of the Tailed Beasts, the Kyuubi, with the knowledge that we had both the Senju’s Wood Style and the Uchiha’s Sharingan to control it if the Uzumaki seals ever broke.” He shuddered. “The Kyuubi is a ferocious beast, the most likely to break free and had to be the most tightly bound, with multiple fail-safes. It nearly destroyed the village in a few hours until Naruto and Kushina saved us, imagine how far its rage would spread if it were truly free.”

They paused, imaging.

“So-“

“Imagine longer.”

They did.

“However, the Senju clan has fallen into obscurity and any branch members of that family, if they existed, cannot use the Wood Style. Thus, when the Kyuubi escaped its bindings, some within the village looked to the Uchiha for protection, while others accused them of treachery.”

“The Uchiha set it free?” That meant his clan was responsible for countless deaths, as well as Naruto’s own parents. Sasuke felt the burden on his shoulders grow heavier and dreaded the walk back to the compound in that armor, in front of all those villagers. Naruto nudged him in the side and gave him a grin and a thumbs-up that weren’t anywhere near honest, but credit for trying.

The Hokage was speaking again, voice solemn once more. “At that time, the Uchiha were the strongest, most populous clan in the Leaf, but they were too aggressive, too quick to temper and prone to rash judgements in battle. I thought to strengthen their role as the Police Force of Konoha by having them protect the civilians, act as a last line of defense if we should fall. Unfortunately, many in the clan took that as a grave insult to their honor, just as Naruto-kun did this afternoon. They spoke up in vindication of their clan and said they had nothing to do with the Kyuubi, your father especially. He and Councilor Danzo nearly came to blows and only your mother settled the matter.”

Sasuke tried to imagine the old man he’d seen with a cane, vowing to fight his Father. He could believe it, but had no doubt what the outcome would have been.

“By the time Itachi acted two years ago, it was too late. Danzo thought himself vindicated, proof of the black heart of the Uchiha, while we burned your dead and mourned. The Uchiha’s history has been trampled and stained, but they, and you, remain proud members of the Leaf. Our ceremony today helped remind everyone of that.”

The Third Hokage smiled. “That the Nine-Tails jinchuriki was willing to fight for you, all on his own, has certainly made a statement. I can tell you the Council will have a great deal to say to me once we leave this office. At the very least, none of them should confront you about it directly.” His eyes hardened even as the smile remained. “If they do, the Anbu will let me know.”

The boys were silent for a while while the Hokage smoked his pipe and they thought about the Sharingan, Tailed Beasts, and dead parents. Both of them opened their mouths, then closed them at different points. Finally, Naruto spoke.

“So, does that mean I can’t hang around Sasuke anymore? Will people be even more mad at me? He’s been super cool and let me carry his super important Uchiha Scroll, even when I screwed everything up outside. He even ate my mushrooms!”

Sasuke wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, but his heart leapt into his throat. He’d only been around Naruto for a day and already so many things were starting to make sense. He felt like he knew what he was doing when before, he’d been blindly fumbling forward, with the distant promise of killing Itachi as his reward. Now, it wasn’t just Itachi and Sasuke and the whole weight of the Uchiha Clan. He still needed to find Indra in the hospital and he was sure Naruto was willing to help him too.

The Hokage sighed. “Officially yes, the boy with the Nine-Tails running around with the Last Uchiha is not a sight that will inspire confidence in certain quarters of the village. The Hyuga, in particular have their own axes to grind. Unofficially, I realize you both aren’t going to listen to me so I’ll just have to listen to people complain and pretend to care.”

He shook a finger at the blonde. “That’s what this job really is, Naruto. Listening to people shout and paperwork. If I’m lucky, I take a trip to the capitol for budgets and I get to listen to the damiyo talk.” He muttered something that sounded like ‘Shisui’ then rose to his feet, clasping his hands behind his back. “Now, as enjoyable and exhausting as it’s been to speak with the future of our village, I’m going to have to kick you out now. Being Hokage is a busy job!”

They dug in their heels as the Professor somehow propelled them towards the door without actually using his hands. Maybe it was the smile.

“But you didn’t even answer all our questions!”

“Yeah!”

“What’s the Mangecko Sharingan?”

“Was my mother a jonin?”

“Who was my dad?”

“Who’s Hatake Kakashi?”

“Do I still have to go to school?”

The boys found themselves outside the Hokage’s office, clutching the red armor and the Uchiha Scroll without being quite sure how they’d got there. Their questions died on their lips as they saw the Councilors and an entire staircase full of jonin and Clan Heads stop their conversations in favor of staring at their bright red and be-hatted targets. There was a moment of anticipatory shuffling as dignified and respectable ninja tried to look like they were not jostling in line while actually doing so when everyone broke into a run.

Naruto and Sasuke ran screaming down the stairs, making a noise similar to the siren mounted on the Police Force building, while Inoichi Yamanaka and Shibi Aburame began clambering horizontally over light fixtures to reach the Hokage’s door before the closer, but much slower Councilors. As they ran, Naruto began to laugh as he realized that this might just be the best prank he’d pulled so far and he hadn’t used a single drop of paint. Not even Iruka could be mad!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I worry that too much of this chapter is dialogue and a thinly-veiled exposition dump but I'm trying to get the basics out of the way, as well as switch up a few subtle things. Don't worry, we'll get back to our Original Timeline Sasuke aka Indra Uchiha eventually, but right now he's a bloody pincushion.
> 
> I do like how Naruto is unsettled at the idea of someone surviving impalement when in canon he tanks two Chidoris to the chest in Pt 1 and in Shippuden he's impaled every Tuesday at brunch.
> 
> Originally ended this chapter a few paragraphs lower, but felt it was best to play N&S off on a comedy bit to balance the heavy stuff. 
> 
> Regarding the usage of Japanese nouns or expressions, I try to keep it easy to understand or shorthand familiar to people who are familiar with Naruto, but again, let me know if anything doesn't work. Also, should I italicize "jinchuriki"?


	9. Hound's Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's favorite silver-haired Anbu spills his guts and does some interior decorating.

Seven Anbu Black Ops agents stood in front of the Hokage, who still looked exhausted and had retreated to his pipe once more, though his gaze was as firm as ever. “The seven of you comprise the Uzumaki Protection Detail, known informally as The Fox Squad. Based on the recent developments, including the arrival of this ‘Indra Uchiha’, I would like to assign you a secondary duty of surveillance on Sasuke Uchiha. As the two seem to now be fast friends, I believe the task will not add to your schedules or warrant an increase in mission difficulty. However, I would hear your thoughts on this matter first. Speak freely.”

Mongoose stepped forward, a thin but exceptionally hairy Inuzuka. “How long would you expect this assignment to last?”

“Until Indra Uchiha wakes up and we can determine his loyalty to the Leaf. My medical team assures me he will be out for at least a week. If he is not loyal, or proves to be too great a liability we shall execute him and you will return to your standard assignments.”

Mongoose nodded as Bat stepped forward. “If the two were to split up or attempt to lose us, which would you prefer we prioritize?”

“The jinchuriki, obviously, though the mere fact would be cause for alarm. I warned them to not makes things too difficult for you, and they seemed content. On that matter, there is something I would like to ask. The children came forward in an official capacity as Leaders of a Clan, and requested answers to numerous questions, some of which trail into S-Class. Rather than have them hound me with questions, I will ask one of you to field what questions are appropriate. No need to worry, most were common enough knowledge for any jonin, so you seven should have no problems. You may discuss among yourselves.”

The Hokage sat back and waited patiently as the Anbu huddled and engaged in a quiet, but furious argument. Gradually, the masks all turned towards one ninja in particular, who groaned and stepped forward.

“Hound reporting for duty as requested, Lord Hokage.”

Hiruzen lit his pipe to hide the smug grin that spread across his face and breathed deeply of the expensive tobacco. “Excellent. Beetle, Squirrel, you have first watch tonight, correct? They nodded. Then there is nothing further to discuss. Hound, I will write up their questions for you by your shift tomorrow morning. Dismissed.”

The masked ninja bowed as one and filed out into the corridor, where a great many ninja were still waiting impatiently. The Hokage’s self-satisfied smile remained for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening.

_________________________

Once Naruto had gotten the giggles out of his system, they found themselves standing outside the Administration Building as a faint ruckus could be heard from inside. Sasuke bit back a curse as he realized the Anbu from the ceremony hadn’t shown up, so he’d lost a perfectly good sword and his-no, Naruto’s kunai shard now. They probably looked stupid again.

With no other option, they began trudging back up Blossom Boulevard, resigned to the long walk back to the Uchiha Estate. Civilians and chunin kept staring at them as they walked, but after talking with the Hokage, some stares didn’t seem like the worst thing in the world. Once the crowds had thinned and they were mostly alone, the last Uzumaki turned to the Not-Quite-Last Uchiha. “So, about that Super Sharingan Jiji was talking about…”

Sasuke tried very hard not to glare and failed. “Not today Naruto, OK?”

Something beyond the glare must have passed to Naruto, because the blonde simply nodded and hefted the Scroll slightly higher on his shoulders. “OK. I’m just thinkin’ with all these questions, we should probably make a list.”

Sasuke held up one hand. “Later. Now we’re going to go home, drop this stupid, heavy armor back in the armory, put that scroll back, and I’m going to take another shower. One with hot water this time.”

And off they went, neither noticing the two shapes that stalked them from the rooftops.

Trudging back to his house was a familiar feeling for Sasuke, especially on weekends. Without school to take up his day, the Not-Quite-Last Uchiha found himself training even more vigorously. Running in the late morning, followed by breakfast, followed by combing through the Uchiha library or his Father’s study, followed by lunch, followed by jutsu training, followed by katas in the dojo, a quick shower and dinner, then sleep.

Of all of those, Sasuke hated sleep the most. Even after a year, he still heard the screams, saw the charcoal and-chalk genjutsu sketches of his father, brother, cousins and great-uncles butcher and be butchered in turn. Usually he was too tired to dream. Usually. It was always a flip of the coin, a roll of the dice, whichever gambling metaphor Sasuke felt like using. The point was, even rest felt exhausting. At least it had used to.

That first night Naruto had slept in Sasuke’s room on a collection of couch cushions and some spare blankets, he hadn’t thought much of it. They were both tired and by the time they had replaced the Uchiha artifacts, showered, and had a late lunch, it was too dark for Sasuke to send his friend (his friend!) walking back to his apartment knowing what the district was like. So Sasuke had insisted he stay the night, even as Naruto had protested that he was fine, really, that he’d always been fine and that Sasuke didn’t need to take pity on him. Sasuke had replied that it wasn’t pity, but common courtesy and that he still needed time to come up with a punishment for Naruto after his stunt with the kunai had nearly gotten them both declared missing-nin. Naruto had scoffed that Sasuke had been overreacting and Sasuke was forced to break out the Scroll again to explain to the Last Uzumaki the seriousness of Konoha Clan Politics. By that point, it was too late for them to go home anyway. Neither of them noticed that the lamp in the corner had seemingly lit itself, or the way the trees in the back garden seemed to rustle slightly less in the wind. That night Sasuke had no nightmares of his brother.

_Behind a cage of golden bars and seals, the Kyuubi bared his teeth in grotesque parody of a smile. He had been grievously wounded by the Fourth, torn in half and starved of half of his chakra, his very essence. His Yin Energy had disappeared alongside that damned human into the stomach of the Reaper God and he had slumbered for years to stave off the agony. But yesterday, when Naruto’s rage began to drip down from cracks in the ceiling, as he and Sasuke rolled across the floor of a shabby apartment, then stood in the blazing Konoha sun to answer a dire insult, the Kyuubi licked its lips. The boy’s negative energy, the sin and wickedness of humanity the Sage Himself had charged Kurama with eradicating and devouring, was soaking down through the very walls of his prison. Kurama couldn’t get out, could not touch the mortal world with a single claw or wisp of fur, but he had been made to feed on hatred and darkness. And the Uchiha Estate of his most hated foe fairly dripped with it. And dreams…as far as the Kyuubi was concerned, bad dreams were perfectly fair game to devour, if he couldn’t have the Uchiha they spawned from._

The next morning, when Sasuke and Naruto were arguing over what counted as a good breakfast, they were surprised by a knock at the door. Sasuke in particular was surprised, for there were still wards around the Estate that meant only the Uchiha bloodline would be able to pass through. They opened the door to find a masked Anbu with the face of a Hound and grey hair, hands in his pockets.

“Yo!”

They both stared. Anbu were supposed to be silent killers. Certainly all of Naruto’s Anbu-sans had been. They certainly didn’t say “Yo.”

The man pulled two rectangular boxes from his pockets, wrapped in grey cloth and offered both to the children. He was fighting to be formal, but they could hear the cheer behind the words. “Hokage-sama apologizes for not returning your weapons to you, especially after Uzumaki-san was trusting enough to offer the first exchange.” To his credit, Naruto did look sheepish. “Wish that in mind, the Hokage has ordered me to act as a temporary guard to you both until this current matter has been resolved.”

“You mean with Indra Uchiha? Where is he anyway?”

The man did not reply, so Sasuke tried a different track.

“What are you allowed to tell us?”

“I am unable to directly divulge any information of S-Rank or above. The Hokage has permitted this operative to answer certain B-class questions with personal discretion, though A-Class questions are to be submitted to the Council in writing. S-Class questions will be ignored.”

Sasuke poked Naruto in the side, eyes shining with excitement. “So he’s allowed to tell us some things.”

“What’s your name?” Naruto asked. Sasuke felt like an idiot for not thinking of it. He’d assumed Anbu didn’t have names. That was the whole point of the masks right?

The Anbu relaxed fractionally and tapped his mask. “I am known as Hound.”

Naruto frowned for a moment, then brightened once again. “I recognize you! You were one of my Anbu-sans, the one who ran away with me when the Uchiha fell out of the sky!”

“I did not run away with you, Naruto. I relocated my charge to a safe location then doubled back to secure any intelligence. There is a difference.”

Still feeling foolish, Sasuke realized they were still standing in the doorway and slid the door open further. “You can come in if you want, Hound-san.”

The man bent and began undoing his sandals. “Just Hound, please. I needed to secure this area anyway.”

“Why?” asked Naruto, drawing out the kunai fragment, “Does Jiji think something might happen to us?”

Hound made a derogatory grunt. “The Hokage does not reveal all his thoughts to his Anbu. We are instruments of his will to protect and defend the village. He is simply being careful. Additionally, he has likely sent me to answer questions so that you will not bother him like this again. He wishes me to remind you to ‘please just make an appointment next time’.”

They moved slowly through the house as Hound carefully inspected the black stains on the floor and ceiling. The Anbu sniffed once, then ran outside to vomit into the grass. Naruto and Sasuke shrugged and helped him carve the offending areas out of the wood. Hound continued his search of the house, but paused at Itachi’s room, which was still closed, and a thick film of dust covered the door. The wiry thin Anbu looked down at Sasuke. “I’ll need to enter this room to complete surveillance operations. Do I have permission?”

“What happens if I say no?”

“Then I’ll make note of it in my report to Lord Hokage and you will have the wonderful responsibility of justifying an obvious hole in our defenses through pages and pages of paperwork, while I shall have to remain paranoid and jumpy every time I move by this door.”

“Fine. But I’m staying out here.”

Hound nodded and Naruto squeezed Sasuke’s hand in reassurance. Despite themselves, all three sneezed when they opened the door. The dust was perhaps a quarter-inch thick across every surface. The room was spartan, with no wall scrolls or misplaced books.

The bed had been neatly made and set against the wall next to a desk and chair which were lit by a single window, just the right size for someone to sneak in or out of. They were silent as they examined the room. Naruto was slightly disappointed. It didn’t look like the bedroom of someone who’d slaughtered his clan. He’d expected writing on the walls or a bunch of weapons. He went to step forward, but Hound shoved him back.

“STOP!” he bent down, one arm still holding Naruto back who had frozen with his foot in the air. Hound reached down and pointed, revealing a thin cord stretched across the hardwood and nearly invisible even when Sasuke was looking straight at it. Naruto gulped and lowered his foot back down. “Booby traps.”

“Obviously. No idea how Anbu missed this earlier. Someone’s going to get raked over the coals for this. And look,” Hound traced the line back behind the door hinge, then up underneath the bed. “It’s unbroken. Somehow two successive Anbu teams missed this and didn’t set it off.”

Hound avoided saying the last part of his thought out loud. _Or Itachi could have come back afterwards, without the Anbu noticing_. He quietly resolved to double-check the barriers surrounding the Uchiha Compound.

“So, what are you going to do about this, Hound-san?”

The grey-haired ninja gestured for them to move back down the corridor as he drew a sword from the sheath on his back.

“I’m going to carefully trip it.”

All three held their breath as the blade silently parted the string. Nothing. No explosion, flying shuriken, nothing. Hound sniffed the air experimentally.

“No poision gas and,” he pulsed his chakra, “no genjutsu either.”

Naruto perked up. “You can put genjutsu into a trap?”

“Rarely. It’s very difficult, but Itachi was a master of genjutsu. If anyone knew how, he would have learned.”

The boys remained in the corner as Hound entered the room, blade drawn. Sasuke was sure if Hound tried, he could have cut the tension in the room with that blade. “Did you ever meet my brother?”

Silence from the room.

“Hound?”

The voice returned to the formal, rote quality it had when Sasuke was asking the right questions. “I knew Itachi Uchiha in Anbu Unit Rho. Mask Designation: Weasel. Sent on 253 missions, all marked above S-Class in the wake of his actions. Subject has been designated a missing-nin, to be killed on sight. Bounties commensurate with his threat level have been placed with the other Great Nations in addition to Waterfall, Hot Springs, Grass, and Tea Country.”

Sasuke and Naruto digested that silently as Hound began opening drawers.

“So Sasuke, if your brother’s wanted pretty much everywhere…Um, what would happen if someone else killed him? Or if he just, dropped dead tomorrow? Would your clan be avenged that way too?”

Sasuke leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling. “Not really, Naruto. Could we not talk about him right now?”

“They say the best revenge is living well,” piped up Hound.

“I don’t think Anbu Black Ops should be giving that advice.”

“Now, now, whatever happened to respecting your elders?”

“I’ll let you know when I find elders to respect, Hound.”

“Aren’t you two a bunch of cheeky brats? Really now.”

.....

“Find anything Hound-san?”

“Spare pens, a pile of ash in the top drawer, an old shuriken.”

“Are you done yet? I thought this would be more interesting y’know?”

“Now now, I’ll be done when I walk out of the room, or it explodes. Until then, just sit out there and ask me questions.”

Naruto mentally counted off questions on his fingers, skipping anything related to the Uchiha.

“Hound-san do you know anything about a guy called Hatake Kakashi?”

There was a harsh _crunch_ from inside the room, followed by muffled groaning. The boys rushed to the door to see Hound’s legs sticking out from underneath the bed, next to his mask and what looked like a tool kit.

“Hound-san?” Sasuke took a step forward, then remembered the invisible wire.

“I’m alive.” Hound’s hand flapped weakly but he stayed where he was. “Now now, Naruto, you really have a knack for asking questions, don’t you? No wonder Danzo hates you so much.”

Naruto stuck out his tongue and pouted, a sight which oddly cheered Sasuke up slightly. “Councilor Turnip-Head can go suck on an egg! He was rude to Sasuke and he thinks I’m the Nine-Tails, when I’m not! I’m Naruto Uzumaki, and ‘cause I’m going to be Hokage, he’d better get used to it!”

A chuckle emanated from under the bed, followed by heavy coughing. Hound groped around blindly until he found the screwdriver and brought it under to presumably continue taking the bed apart.

“You certainly are Kushina’s son, Naruto. She was in the Anbu too, a bit before my time. And I’m glad, because she probably would have beaten me to within an inch of my life if I had been.”

Naruto’s face creased in worry. “Why’s that? She doesn’t sound very nice at all.”

“I’ve given you the wrong idea, sorry. Just that when she was in Anbu, I would have only been your age, just after the start of the Third Shinobi World War. She was fiercely opposed to having any genin teams join the war at all and lobbied fiercely with the Hokage to prohibit the idea. Of course, the war didn’t allow us that luxury and whole classes of genin were graduated and sent out on missions as soon as the projected survival rate of the class went above 50%.”

The clinical manner Hound had lapsed back into made both boys look at his legs with concern. They were only nine and to them, Genin graduation was as far away as the moon. The idea that the Leaf had been that desperate at the beginning of the war…It was disconcerting.

“Of course, when Kushina got angry, like you Naruto, that made it harder for her to keep the Kyuubi chained up, because he thrives on negative emotions. So rather than laze around behind the front lines to be a strategic warning to Sand and Stone, watching children march by, she marched up to the Hokage’s office and shouted at him for two hours straight until he agreed to let her join the Anbu. Like I said, a lot like you, Naruto. That’s why the village called her the “Hot-Blooded Habanero”, because of her temper and her red hair. Step back, I’m sending part of the bedframe your way, just drag it into the hall.”

A long wooden beam poked out from underneath the bed and the boys maneuvered it into the hall with some difficulty. Naruto had slammed his end into the walls twice and left some black marks that Sasuke knew would take forever to scrub out. They trundled back in to continue Hound’s story.

“So what you need to understand about ninja is that Anbu isn’t only a super-secret black ops group. That’s most of what it does, but it’s also sort of a testing ground and a who’s who of the village’s top jonin. Most of the ninja who become jonin do some time in the Anbu Black Ops, though what they do and for how long depends on their skillset, the state of the Five Great Nations, and if the ninja is willing to stay. Once we’re accepted, we stay for six month terms in peacetime, longer if there’s a war. After each term, we get an option to stay in or to leave, no hard feelings either way. It’s more dangerous if a ninja doesn’t want to be there and loses focus. What I mean is, because it’s the toughest place to be a ninja, anyone who wants to become Hokage since the Second established the Anbu has spent at least one term under a mask.”

Hound’s clay mask stared up at them with blank eyeholes, its curled mouth suggesting some private joke. Naruto stared back at the mask, warring feelings flashing across his face. “So the only way I can be Hokage is if I join the Anbu someday?”

“Not necessarily, you could buck the trend. The position of Hokage is also influenced by the damiyo of the Fire Nation, the Jonin Commander, the existing Councilors, and the Clan Heads. Because it’s a position with a lot of power, and because the Hokage acts as the face of the village, it’s also important that they are well known and liked by many people. Working in Anbu means the civilians don’t see you, but it helps give a greater understanding of the shinobi world.”

There was a ripping noise as Hound tore open the bottom of the mattress.

“Being Hokage means different things to different people. The Third Hokage thinks it means being the head of one big Leaf village family, helping settle differences and family squabbles, while Lord Second thought the Hokage’s duty was to strengthen the structures and governance of the village, not just its military. Kushina thought that as Hokage, she could use that position to right the wrongs she saw within Konoha’s shinobi system, like those young genin, or the villager’s hatred of the jinchuriki.”

“Those sound like great reasons for my Mom to be Hokage, how come she wasn’t chosen? Was it ‘cause she was a jinchuriki like me?”

Underneath the bed, Hound weighed his words. He would have to be very careful.

“A little bit, yes,” he admitted. “Some of the civilians, who’d only heard the legends of the Kyuubi and hadn’t seen Kushina fight, were worried about her as Hokage just on principal, bunch of idiots. Some of the more cautious members of the village felt that Kushina would change too much too fast and upset the balances of power the Third Hokage had maintained in the village. Most of the jonin and Anbu who had fought with Kushina in the war were all for it. Some of them had been chomping at the bit for things to change. Unfortunately, some of those people talked about their ideas for change a little too much and in the wrong places. Word of this made its way back to the damaiyo of the Land of Fire who didn’t like women at all. He made it clear that he would only accept a male candidate for Hokage, which almost set off the rebellion he was afraid of in the first place.”

Another chuckle came from under the bed. “Sasuke, your mother, Mikoto, was best friends with Kushina and they both were nearly ready to charge over to the Capitol to have words with the damaiyo who had been favoring Orochimaru of the Legendary Sannin for the post. But the Third wouldn’t approve of Orochimaru, even though he’d been the Third’s student, and the damaiyo wouldn’t approve of Kushina, while the civilians just wanted a new Hokage. Lord Third had wanted to retire for a while and the Leaf needed a new face once the war ended. So there was a whole lot of politics and compromise involved and the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was accepted. Like Kushina, he’d made a name for himself in the war as the “Yellow Flash of Konoha” and they’d fought together across the entire Northern Front, because she was the only one who could keep up with him. Because they were close, people thought Kushina’s ideas could have their day while the damaiyo and the reluctant members of the village kept their restraining influence and tradition junk for a few more years. Only Orochimaru wasn’t happy, and he ended up becoming a missing-nin himself.”

Naruto had his arms crossed, face scrunched up in thought. “So what did the Fourth do? Did he listen to my mom? What did he want to do as Hokage?”

“Well he was a very busy man for the first year of his government, adding new Councilors and helping manage the drawdown from the Third Great Shinobi War. Cloud still refused to sign a peace treaty though they had also drawn down their own forces from the northern border. Minato-sen, excuse me, the Fourth Hokage, made appearances there to remind our ninja and Cloud’s that he had not forgotten about them.”

“Sounds tense,” piped up Sasuke.

“It was, but not as much as you’d think. Both sides had dug in and with all the losses, it was obvious no one’s hearts were in it enough to strike out in force. Cloud also had its own internal politics to deal with and needed to re-seal one of their Jinchuriki.”

Naruto perked up again at the mention of others like him. “Do you know anything more about that?”

Hound considered. “Sorry, that probably falls under more S-Class information. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“Dang, I wanna know more about what other people like me are doing or if we could write letters.”

“Naruto,” warned Sasuke, “they’re enemy ninja too, don’t forget.”

“Well, from what Hound-sensei and Jiji said, it sounds like my mom an’ I weren’t treated very well, even when we protect the village.”

Sasuke had nothing to say about that as his companion turned back to Hound.

“Well, keep going with your story! I wanna know what happened with my mom and the Fourth Hokage, what they did to change the village.”

 _Oh boy,_ thought Hound. _Here it comes._

“Well, Kushina had you.”

There was silence as the statement permeated the room.

“Well, I know I’m pretty great, but how did that change the village? Was it something to do with the Kyuubi?”

Sasuke looked over sharply. Naruto’s fake smile was plastered back over his face as he asked the question even though Hound couldn’t see it, but he was beginning to tap his fingers together the way he did when he didn’t know a question in class or when other kids refused to sit with him at lunch. They all knew he had arrived at the most important question. There was silence from under the bed for a very long time and the longer it stretched, the more Naruto’s mask cracked. By the one-minute mark, the smile was gone, by a minute thirty his eyes had welled up and he turned away. As Hound finally slid out from under the bed, Sasuke didn’t even bother to sneak a peek at his face, which was covered in another, dark blue mask. The Anbu levered himself up in a crouch, gaze fixated on Naruto’s back just as Sasuke’s was. The boy’s breath had begun to hitch and he clearly was trying his hardest to not cry. Sasuke backed away towards the entrance, but something stopped him. This was a very personal moment, but he’d bared his own soul to Naruto the night before. Surely, he needed to stay if Naruto wanted him to. And the boy hadn’t said anything at all.

“Naruto.” Hound’s voice floated there in the silence, no longer devoid of emotion or showing a distant cheer as he’d discussed Mikoto and Kushina’s lives. It was weighted, heavy, and trembling with emotion long suppressed.

“Naruto, please look at me.”

He shook his head, so Kakashi lifted a hand towards the orange jacket, hesitated, then placed it gently on Naruto’s shoulder. The blonde tensed, but Hound made no move to turn him at all or tighten his grip.

“Naruto, none of this is your fault. Absolutely none of it.”

“It’s mine.”

Hound’s sentences were short as the man forced them out from behind the mask, a dam of emotion finally cracking.

“It’s my fault Kushina died, that I couldn’t to save her. The Fourth Hokage had asked me, ME, Friend-Killer Kakashi, to keep her safe and I failed at that too!”

Naruto whirled around and struck Kakashi full in the face, an open-handed slap that even Sasuke winced at as Hound’s head snapped to the side.

“So it’s your fault my mom and dad are dead?! That I have to have this…this thing inside me? Why? WHY? Why did this happen?”

Naruto’s cry was just as raw as Hound’s confession, just as pained. They were both crying now as Sasuke stood frozen, knowing he had to stay, even as he questioned what Hound had said. _“Friend-Killer Kakashi? As in Hatake Kakashi on the Scroll? So then_ -

“It was the Kyuubi’s fault. As she had you, the seals on the Nine-Tails weakened, and something happened, the creature broke free. I knew she had left the village to have you, just in case something would happen, but I should have been there, could have done something to stop-“

“They said the Kyuubi was taller than our buildings, almost as tall as the Hokage Mountain” said Sasuke. He felt like someone else was saying the words, as if his textbook or perhaps Iruka-sensei was spilling out of his own mouth in response to the scene. “That only Lord Third, Lord Fourth, and the Clan Heads could even move it. I don’t think you-“

“You weren’t even there,” spat Hound. “What do you know?”

Naruto slapped Hound again, this time with a backhand, which refocused the Anbu’s attention on the child in front of him.

“Don’t talk to him like that! He’s my friend!”

Kakashi dropped his hand, which had still been hanging limply in the air and went into a bow of contrition so deep his head touched the floor. Sasuke remembered Itachi in the street outside, face down on the cobbled streets as his Father and three other Uchiha glared at him.

“I am deeply sorry and apologize for my rash actions, Uzumaki-sama.”

“What else?”

Naruto’s voice had gone from teary and angry to the voice he’d used against Danzo the day before. Hard, sharp, tempered anger, with that same unidentifiable pitch. Dangerous anger. Sasuke remembered the gaze of hatred Itachi had sent after his Father once his back had turned and stiffened in anticipation of another attack from Naruto. But there was nothing. The boy grabbed the shoulders of Hound’s armor and dragged him upright.

“What else happened? What did you do to my mom?”

Hound’s voice had quieted. Where before he sounded like a man whose heart was breaking, now he sounded like it had been buried in a ditch many years earlier. Back to the cold clinical Anbu operative, though the tears continued to stream down his face.

“Lord Third had ordered myself and many of the Village Jonin to act as a cordon between the beast and the rest of the village to limit civilian casualties and save who we could. The Uchiha had been posted behind the line and behind Hokage mountain as a last-ditch defense against the Kyuubi’s rage. But the Nine-Tails went through us like we were nothing. Buildings, crushed, trees used as clubs. Only Lord Fourth and Kushina’s jutsu prevented the destruction of the Leaf.”

“What did they do?”

“The reason your mother had been chosen as the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails is because of her clan. The Uzumaki were powerful seal masters, but only the women of the clan could summon forth their bloodline technique: The Chakra Chains, their will formed upon the world itself. With them Kushina brought the Kyuubi down, dragged it outside the village with Lord Third and Fourth, who performed a sealing jutsu with the intent to kill the beast alongside himself. However, he knew the village needed a jinchuriki to be safe, so he stored half the Kyuubi’s chakra inside the nearest living soul he could find, the newborn Uzumaki Naruto.”

“So he just used me? Because I was there?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Hound. “Minato never did anything without a reason. He must have hoped you could contain or use its power just as Kushina did, or maybe he really was just desperate.”

“Well, he was a horrible Hokage then!” declared Naruto, arms crossed, and some of the deeper anger beginning to drain away from him. “He should have just died with the Kyuubi like he meant to and my Mom and I could be here now, instead of you.”

He shoved at Hound, but because they were both already on the floor, it didn’t do much. Kakashi’s hand came up, but Naruto slapped it away.

“They both died to protect you, Naruto. Lord Fourth and Kushina. The Nine-Tails did not want to be sealed again and sought to kill its only viable host. They both jumped into the path of its claw to protect you, knowing they would die, because they wanted you to live. They died heroes, protecting the village.”

“Well, their deaths didn’t help at all did they? I still have the Kyuubi inside me and they don’t have to deal with this!” Naruto’s mouth quivered again. “I want my mom. I don’t want her to be a hero. I don’t want her to be dead.” He collapsed into Hound’s chest, clinging to him even as his fist pounded against the Anbu’s shoulder.

“I want my mooom!”

“I don’t want to be alive, if it means I have to deal with this. I don’t deserve to be Hokage if I can’t even get the Clone Jutsu right, if because I have the Kyuubi it means no one likes me, if I screw up Sasuke’s big meeting when he was nice to me.” He sniffed. “I don’t think I’m a good person.”

Sasuke cleared his throat. Not only was this starting to sound like his own thoughts in the dark of night, alone in the Uchiha Estate, he had to speak up. “That’s not true!” He repeated it. “That’s not true Naruto! You got angry at Danzo, but I was angry too, and you stopped me from doing something, which could have been worse. You gave me your mushrooms and believed me about Indra Uchiha, and helped me through your window when I was going to fall. You want to be Hokage, right? I think…” he said slowly, realizing the words were true as he said it, “I think you are a good person, or you’re trying hard to be. My brother’s a bad person, he never cried. Because you’re crying now, because you miss your mom, because I miss my mom, I think that makes us good people.”

Hound sent Sasuke a look of relief and gratefulness over his shoulder as he tentatively patted Naruto’s head. “You forget Naruto, that I was or am your Anbu-san. I’ve watched you for years now, even when you were painting the Hokage monuments or hiding glitter bombs all around the Anbu Headquarters. You’re Kushina’s son. You have her fire, her rebel spirit, but you’re not a bad person. You’re a kid. Kids do naughty stuff sometimes, but that’s ok. The Kyuubi doesn’t make you a bad person and,” he added, “a Sharingan doesn’t make you a bad person.”

He turned, with Naruto still clutching to his torso like a limpet, and Sasuke saw that his left eye had the same red glow of his clansmen, the curved tomoe of an active Sharingan.

“My comrade who gave me this Sharingan wasn’t a bad person and he made me promise to use it to keep my comrades safe, to protect the Leaf. I think the Fourth and your mother wanted the same for you. The Clone jutsu doesn’t matter, Naruto. If you want to become Hokage, like Kushina did, if you want to help Sasuke, whatever you want to do, then I think you’ll make a splendid ninja.”

Naruto looked up at him and sucked some snot back into his nose. “Hound-san, why do you think I can do that, when I hit you?”

Hound’s smile was visible even through his mask as his eye crinkled in synch. “Because you’re Naruto Uzumaki, right?”

Naruto nodded hesitantly at first, then as the thought took root, a real smile, shaky though it was, began to bloom on his own face. “Yeah, I guess you’re right Hound-san. My mom got really close to being Hokage, except for some stupid old damaiyo, and dumb ol’ Fourth gave me the Kyuubi, so I’m gonna have to do something about him too! I’m gonna show that damaiyo, Danzo, and everybody else that Naruto Uzumaki’s gonna be Hokage! I’m gonna be such a good Hokage they won’t even remember the Kyuubi’s in me, I’ll be so good! You’ll see Hound-san!”

He poked Hound in the nose, who blinked in surprise, then swung Naruto up on his shoulders, laughing and practically dancing out of the room as Naruto ducked the doorway, cheering along. Sasuke felt a small Uchiha smile break across his own face and followed them down the hall and through the living room, then out onto the street, mimicking Naruto’s proclamations the day earlier.

“Make way for Lord Naruto Uzumaki, the Fifth Hokage! Make way, make way!”

On top of Hound, Naruto was waving, cheering, and blowing raspberries at an imaginary crowd in equal measure as a figure dropped down in front of them. Another masked Anbu, this time with long purple hair and her own sword drawn.

“Hound, I heard shouting, wha-“

“Cat-san, Cat-san,” crowed Naruto, “When I become Hokage, will you be in my guard like Hound-san? I’d put Sasuke in it too, but he’s got to be the head of the Uchiha, so he’d be too tired.”

“I would not!” butted in Sasuke. “I could do all sorts of things and be on your Council too!”

“But you have to drag that heavy Scroll everywhere as Clan Head and that would be super tiring, even for a strong ninja like you!”

“I don’t have to carry that scroll everywhere, idiot, I told you that was just for the ceremony!”

“We’ve had a lot to think about, you rich bastard, can’t you cut me a break?”

“You’ll have a lot to think about when you’re Hokage, I’m not cutting you any breaks got it? Especially not when I’m Lord Uchiha!”

As the boys continued bickering, Cat shot Hound a questioning look, who gave her a thumbs up. Deep down, he felt himself lighten, just a bit. He’d told Naruto the truth and the boy had every right to be angry. But he was also up there on Hound’s shoulders, chattering away with Sasuke about his Hokage celebration. He doubted Minato or Kushina would be pleased with how long it had been, but he’d finally started to take care of their son. He hadn’t failed them completely, not yet. He was Anbu and thus too cynical to ever voice it aloud, but a part of him, a part that sounded a lot like Obito, quietly told him that things were looking up from here.

_“Get it Bakakashi? Because you’ve got my eye, and…”_

And so Sunday shone on.

Cat ended up cooking lunch, Itachi’s bedroom forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More angst and exposition, apologies. Kakashi overcompensated for his normally taciturn nature and opened with a "Yo!". Also it may be OOC to have him just spill his guts like this, but he's been guilt-tripping himself for days at least and the Third served him this opportunity on a platter, just as planned. Also, Sasuke suppressing that memory of crying Itachi even harder now and going all-in on Supportive Awkward Friend mode.
> 
> Also, I know I said I'd update on Saturdays, but I looked and I have 90k words written and barely 30k on this site, so it's time to speed things up! You'll be glad to hear I've mapped out core character progression, plotting, and thematic arcs, so I know for sure where this is going. The Fox Squad are going to be semi-reoccurring characters, because the easy camaraderie between them was really fun to write.


	10. Cats and Dogs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the help of a couple of bored Anbu, Naruto and Sasuke take the first real steps on their ninja journey.

They’d played Ro-Sham-Bo for the dishes like civilized Anbu and Kakashi lost. So he was up to his elbows in suds while Sasuke and Naruto pattered around the kitchen and dining room burning off energy and pretending to be great heroes. Somehow, they were both wearing plates of red Uchiha armor, though at least Sasuke’s were on right-side up. Cat had continued to dismantle Itachi’s bed, more out of a need to continue to spite the traitor, as Kakashi had, than any security need at this point. The twelve explosive tags he’d found and defused were a concern, but he knew the veteran Anbu had it well in hand. Why would Itachi place a trap to blow up his bed anyway? One more mystery from the mind of a madman.

As he scrubbed away at a particularly stubborn sauce stain on one of the plates, Kakashi felt some of the tension go out of his shoulders. Maybe it was because he wasn’t wearing his mask and some of his armor, but this had rapidly become less of a standard guardian mission and more…he wasn’t sure what it was turning into, but felt equally sure the Third Hokage had planned for it considering their last discussion. He also wasn’t as upset about it as he expected it to be.

“Hound-san?”

“Hmm?”

“Should we, uhh, still call you Hound-san? I mean,” the Uchiha cast about, “I’ve figured out your name, but you’re still an Anbu, so…” He trailed off, looking at the Hound mask that Cat had placed on the counter, perhaps to emphasize that exact point. Hound, once again Hatake Kakashi, shrugged.

“We’ll see. I’ll have to speak to Lord Third, but you can still call me Kakashi as long as we’re in the house. It was pretty obvious, wasn’t it?”

Sasuke nodded solemnly and Kakashi was vividly reminded of Fugaku’s own expressions during council sessions.

“It’s been a busy couple of days, Kakashi-san. Sensei? Which works?”

“Now, now, I’m not your sensei yet,” deflected Kakashi as he passed the last plate into the drying rack. “I was assigned to answer questions and guard you, but I don’t think I’m allowed to teach you jutsu.” He tapped his still sudsy hand to the dishcloth he’d wrapped around his head. “Especially any jutsu involving the Sharingan. Lord Danzo made that very specific.”

“Well, can we do any physical training then? I’ve dusted the dojo and use it a bunch on the weekends!”

Even knowing Sasuke’s use of the dojo was likely to practice ways to kill a certain someone, Kakashi was heartened that Mikoto’s precious dojo hadn’t gone to waste. And Naruto was still running circles around the couch so yes, maybe some more vigorous exercise would be good for them.

“That does sound like a good idea, Sasuke.”

Draining the sink and toweling his hands dry, Kakashi called for Naruto and the three began to make their way down the hallway as the Anbu was interrogating the boys on what they had learned in the Acadamy so far.

“Well, Sasuke’s really great at shuriken and taijutsu when we train in the yard, but-“

“You mean when I kick your butt in the training yard,” reminded Sasuke, a smug smile on his face.

Yeah, yeah, I get it,” grumbled Naruto. “Anyway, Iruka-sensei said I’ve gotten really good at using kunai, but says I need to work on my shuriken accuracy a lot.”

“Well, it’s a good start. But are there any weapons you’d like to learn how to use?”

Both boy’s eyes lit up and Kakashi knew he’d made a mistake.

“A sword!”

“An axe!”

“A scythe!”

“A meteor hammer!”

“A chain scythe!”

“A glaive!”

“Now, now,” placated Kakshi, “Let’s not get our hopes up! I’m just one measly Anbu operative, I don’t know everything about weapons.”

The boys gave him a flat look.

“Jiji sent you to us because you know everything, so yes you do.” Naruto folded his arms while Kakashi tried to think of a solution.

“How about we start with one? Which one do you really want to use, if you had to pick?”

They thought.

“I’d like to use a sword.” Sasuke’s certainty made Kakashi nod. After growing up around the Police Force, a sword was a symbol of an officer and the tanto sheathed in the small of the Anbu’s back just added weight to the choice. Inside his own head, Sasuke was imagining killing Itachi with his own sword, the final statement of his vengeance for the Uchiha clan. His dreamy smile was disrupted when Naruto poked him.

“Hey, quit daydreaming.”

“Naruto?”

Kakashi-sensei, I’d like to use a _kanabo_ , one of those big iron clubs y’know!” Naruto gestured with his hands to indicate the size he wanted. “Something big and intimidating I could use to stomp the floor at Council meetings, y’know?”

“You don’t bring weapons to Council meetings,” muttered Sasuke.

Kakashi piped up. “Well Sasuke, maybe you want to talk to Cat-san here.” The woman in question was coming out of Itachi’s room, arms piled high with blocks of wood from the now thoroughly dismantled bed. Kakashi winked at her, though the effect was somewhat spoiled by his dishrag. “Her _boyfriend_ has mastered the Dance of the Crescent Moon technique and she taught it to him.”

Though her mask was back on, Sasuke could feel the kunoichi studying him. “Maybe. Depends if this really is a long-term gig or not, Hound-san.”

“I think it is, Cat-san. Don’t hold it against them.”

She tossed her violet hair over her shoulder in irritation.

“I’m not, just evaluating if that brat’s going to run off and get himself killed the moment I finish teaching him. That’s what you want it for, right? To go after your brother?”

Sasuke nodded, his face serious. “It’s my responsibility, my mission. It’s what I’m supposed to do, by all the laws. My clan demands vengeance.”

Cat sighed. “You sure about this Hound? He’s one dramatic little brat.”

Kakashi met her eyes through the porcelain mask. “It’s a complicated technique, it’ll be many years before he masters it, even with the Sharingan. Who knows what will happen?”

“Fine.” She pulled a kunai from her belt and handed it to Sasuke. “Take this, go outside, and come back to the dojo with twenty branches from those trees along the edge of the river. I’ll be following you, but you’ll have to pick the branches on your own. When you’re done, bring them back to the dojo and we’ll start.”

Sasuke nodded, uncertain what this had to do with swords, but set off, with Cat in his wake. Kakashi turned back to Naruto, who had surprisingly been quiet as he wiggled in place. Probably the prospect of weapons training was sufficient motivation.

“So, you want something heavy and imposing, but also useful on the battlefield as well as a symbol?”

Naruto nodded so fast his head was a blur.

“I can work with that. I’m not formally trained in staff fighting, but I’ve seen enough to get you started and we can find a more formal teacher for that later.”

Naruto looked worried. “But you’re not going away, right? I’ve still got Iruka-sensei, Mitsuki-sensei, and Jiji who all have to teach me stuff to become Hokage y’know!”

Kakashi ruffled his hair in response and Naruto beamed like someone had promoted him to jonin. “Of course not, I’m staying here and you’ll probably drive me crazy just like your other teachers.”

They opened the sliding door to the dojo and Naruto’s eyes widened in awe. The room was huge, twice as big as his entire apartment, with firm mats on the floors and a massive weapons rack that covered the left wall, while wall scrolls depicting stylized Uchiha engaged in combat decorated the right. A massive Uchiha fan dominated the far wall, emphasizing whose blood normally spilled in this space, all in pursuit of perfection.

They meandered over to the weapons rack and Kakashi picked up a wooden bo staff, weighing it in his hands, then, with a sharp jerk of his knee, broke it in two.

“Hey, what did you do that for!”

“You need to start with something smaller, more suited to your size. I’ll be adding weights to this once you get the initial forms down, so you can gain muscle mass as we train.”

Naruto looked at his thin, under muscled forearms and frowned. “That might be tough, Kakashi-sensei. Maybe we should pick something different.”

“Oh, how come? You clearly wanted this, why change now?”

Naruto looked away and brought his hands together in front of him. It was a nervous tic, Kakashi noted. One he would break him of shortly. On the other hand, every ninja who advanced to the rank of jonin had developed a quirk of some sort or another and Naruto had been through enough already. Naruto’s gaze was still down at the floor, so Kakashi gently raised it with the smooth end of the staff.

“Naruto, be honest.” He chided.

“It’s just…I’m always hungry, even when I eat a bunch, and Iruka-sensei only takes me to Ichiraku Ramen so many times. And Jiji’s money always seems to run out, so I eat those mushrooms down by the Naka River, but those aren’t really good, I know.”

Kakashi blinked in surprise as he considered the statement. He’d seen the boy foraging for mushrooms, but hadn’t realized…

“You’ll have enough food to build muscle mass, Naruto.” He said firmly, feeling an ember of anger stir in his gut at the village, at himself, who had been blinded by his grief, and at the Hokage for, well, everything. “I promise.”

The staff disappeared from his hand as Naruto began swinging it around enthusiastically, continuing his Glorious Conquest from the kitchen. “Thanks a bunch, Kakashi-sensei! Oh boy, this is gonna be great! I’ll have mastered my first technique by the time Sasuke comes back with all his branches.”

Beneath his mask, Kakashi smirked. He was dearly going to enjoy this part. Consider it karmic justice for Minato’s grueling training regime, which had been just as hard on him as Obito and Rin, even as he had insisted, he didn’t need it, that his father had trained him well enough. _Maybe this is the true bond of master and student_ he idly mused as he swiped the stick back and began instructing Naruto on the proper stances of staff usage through ample pokes and prods. _The bond of hideous training passed down through sweat and hard knocks_.

Sasuke’s first two sticks were grueling affairs as he alternatively sawed and hacked away at the tough bark of the branches in the backyard, for the smooth lines of a kunai were not suited to woodwork. Sweaty, but determined, he handed the knife back to Cat.

“I’m not giving up.” He said shortly and retraced his steps across the back yard and then out of the house grounds entirely as Cat followed, wondering silently what he planned to do. Sasuke found a groundskeeper’s toolshed one street over, discreetly tucked between two tall oaks and all but invisible from the road. Cat recognized the space, if Sasuke did not. It was where she had found Shibiki Uchiha, age 16, with three shuriken embedded in his back. Though she glanced down at the spot, now indistinguishable from any other in the grass, Sasuke fiddled with the lock then glanced sheepishly back at Cat.

“Sorry, uh, Cat? I don’t have a key for this place. Could you…” He trailed off, but she understood. Nodding, she knelt at the lock and produced a thin metallic object with various small points sticking out of the sides on wheels. The whole thing looked scratched and worn, like it had been used many times. “You’ll learn to pick locks in the Acadamy soon.” She remarked, “But for now, this will suffice. Just don’t make a habit of expecting us to break into places for you.”

“Technically, I own this, so it’s not breaking in. You’re just saving us both some time instead of wandering around as I look for the key.” A few minutes of clicking and sharp twists of her wrist produced the required _clunk_ and Sasuke scampered inside as soon as she opened the door. He came back out bearing two hand axes, blades slightly rusted along the sides, but still well honed along their edges. Cat narrowed her eyes behind her mask and debated if this would be considered cheating. She’d intended to make a point about patience, forcing Sasuke to use the unwieldy, improper kunai to cut down the branches while she would be able to work out how the hell she could or even should teach the last Uchiha the initial concepts of the Crescent Moon style, which relied on misdirection, illusion, and speed. Now she had to think on her feet, but Cat was used to doing that as a part of Anbu. She just hoped she and Hayate wouldn’t get in trouble for this down the line.

They returned to the backyard and inside Sasuke could hear intermittent _woosh_ noises and the _clack_ of wood impacting wood. Placing one of the axes to the side, Sasuke ascended the tree and made short work of the next 18 required branches, which soon piled up below Cat’s own treebranch. He looked over at her, sweaty, but pleased. “Cat-sensei, I’ve finished. You wanted to teach me the importance of the proper tool, in combat correct? I’ve heard how many variations on the sword exist in Konoha, so I figured you had something specific in mind.”

_Yes,_ thought Cat, _Bluff thoroughly until you can talk with Hayate._ She nodded and dropped to the ground as Sasuke flung the axe a good distance from the tree and clambered down on his own. She noticed that it had landed blade-first in the opposite wooden fence, and had sunk deep. “The Crescent Moon style can be adopted to any length or style of blade once you learn the fundamentals, but we can use my Anbu short sword as an example for now. I understand you carried one yesterday, what did you think of it?”

Sasuke glanced over his bundle of branches but the Anbu betrayed no sign that the question was anything beyond what it was. _Calm down Sasuke,_ he told himself. _She’s training you like Kakashi asked, not setting you up for politics._ He released a breath and decided to answer honestly.

“Unfamiliar, Cat-sensei. I kept worrying it would slip out of my belt or that it sat on my hip incorrectly. Is that why yours is stationary on your back?”

“Yes. Anbu have to move quickly and the minimum of noise. Your…manner yesterday was mostly ceremonial and would have had your sword attached more permanently than through a belt sash during a mission. You’ll have to use that tanto as a model for the swords you carve out of these branches, and this time,” she moved into his field of vision to meet his eyes.

“You will use a kunai. Unorthodox thinking is helpful, but it is important to know every inch of your weapon before you begin training with it. You will have an easier time of it, at least, but I look forward to seeing the results. By the twentieth, the replica should be perfect.”

Sasuke nodded and sat down outside the dojo as Naruto’s protests were continually met with Kakashi’s calm explanations or the retribution of the staff. Leaning back, he drew the screen away so Naruto could see him, and raised a hand in acknowledgement. Though he couldn’t see Naruto’s response, he did hear another soft _clonk_ and Kakashi admonishing him to “pay attention to your stance Naruto.”

But the comment was made without any real venom, so the group continued in that manner for the rest of the afternoon. There was a small crisis when evening fell and both boys realized they did in fact, have school the next day. While neither were strangers to skipping class for one reason or another, the realization that they had both grandstanded in front of the entire village and would then have to endure the avalanche of questions from classmates was a daunting one. Sasuke seriously considered barricading himself in the Uchiha Estate to ward off the girls. Oh gods, the girls were going to be insufferable.

After the Anbu reminded them that yes, they were still obligated to go to class and no, they were not allowed to talk about the many, many things the Third Hokage and Kakashi had shared with them, both boys shared a look of mingled dread and resignation. In that moment of inattention, Kakashi quietly slipped Cat a roll of paper which she hid in her belt.

“A ninja does not run away.” Cat reminded Naruto as she walked him back to his apartment along dusty and thinly populated streets, hidden under a genjutsu of an elderly woman.

“I wasn’t gonna run away, Cat-san! I just don’t know what I’ll say when Kiba or Shikamaru-san ask questions, or when Ino and Sakura-san get angry because they think I embarrassed _their Sasuke_.” He said the last two words in a mocking voice as Cat hid a snort of laughter behind her own mask.

“I didn’t realize the competition had already started.”

“Oh yeah, the girls have been swooning over Sasuke for ages, and he doesn’t even do anything or talk to them. But they’re all ‘ _ohh he’s so mysterious, and tragic, and the best at everything_.’”

“Jealousy does not become you, Uzumaki-san.”

“Well, what do you suggest I do? Everybody’s going to be angry at me and think Sasuke’s cool, because that’s the way it’s always been. Now I know why, but I can’t even talk about it, y’know?”

Cat nodded. “There is much in Anbu we are officially forbidden to speak of, even to our closest friends.”

“Like your boyfriend? Kakashi said you were dating.”

“Another thing to berate him for,” sighed Cat. “But perhaps I can lend you some advice Uzumaki-san. Find one of your enemies and make them an ally. If these girls are so set on Uchiha-san, perhaps one of them can be used to drive the rest away.”

Naruto frowned as he contemplated this and as they turned onto his street. His apartment loomed in the darkness and he looked back at Cat with a mixture of uncertainty and fear.

“You guys’ll come back right?”

Cat nodded. “Owl is on the night shift. Hound and I will be back tomorrow. You will not see me, but I suspect Hound will be a bit more conspicuous.”

Naruto’s grin was back on his face and he nearly bounced along the street until Cat held out her hand to stop him.

“For the sake of formality, I shall inspect your dwelling just as Hound did for Uchiha-san.”

“But you guys have been following me for years,” complained Naruto, who was by now missing his bed. “Shouldn’t you have done that like, last week or earlier?”

Cat deliberately angled her face so the empty eyeholes of her mask bored into him. “You didn’t throw a kunai at Lord Danzo last week. An important distinction.”

Naruto gulped and handed her the apartment key.

Cat silently moved through the stairwell as Naruto followed, swooping through his door and half of the space before Naruto had even put one foot on the landing. Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, all areas where a disabled paper bomb or subtle knife might be left as a threat. The Hokage knew Danzo placed too high a priority on Konoha’s jinchuriki to have him killed, but Cat knew the head of the Anbu was also not above sending a pointed message. And the brat had somehow wormed his way into her tightly clad heart in the space of a day. Of course, having to sit on the roof and listen to him and Kakashi sob at one another also had something to do with it.

The roll of paper came out and she scribbled out her report with a discarded pencil just as Naruto closed the door behind him. Perfect. She shoved the scrap back into her belt, but Naruto was rubbing his eyes and already shrugging off his jacket.

“Thanks a bunch Cat-san, but I’m gonna go to bed now…” He trailed off as he moved past her towards his bedroom, shedding sandals and exhaustion like autumn leaves, as Cat bowed and used a quiet body flicker to disappear out the window to the opposite roof. She silently measured the distance between the orange spraypaint and Naruto’s window and shook her head as Owl appeared for his shift. A jump like that, in the rain and with almost no chakra control…the Uchiha really were something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a mini training arc! One of the problems with Naruto fan fiction is that because there's so damn much of it, of varying levels of quality, nearly every permutation of Team 7 has been done. Naruto with Rinnegan, Sakura with her MPD as a superpower, Sasuke summoning the wolf goddess Amaterasu, etc. So no matter what I do someone will think it's derivative. Still, the way we get to those Team 7 loadouts is going to be interesting, as Indra will soon get to mess up his younger self in all sorts of new and fascinating ways. 
> 
> We get a little bit more on Cat, who's a very minor character in the show, but what arc she has is interesting. And Naruto dearly needs interesting female characters, because Kishimoto couldn't be bothered to write women well.
> 
> How's my formatting? I know I'm avoiding massive blocks of text, but things look different in AO3 versus my Word Document, so let me know. Is it easy to read and tell who's speaking? Are paragraph breaks clear?


	11. School and Sakura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto decides to take Cat's advice, while Sakura does it all for puppy love.

Sunrise found Sasuke actually sleeping in his bed, for once, but with a very long scroll still unfurled by his bedside. Unlike his previous reading, this scroll was color coded, with red ink for subjects Kakashi had told him he wasn’t allowed to talk about and blue ones that he was. There was, dispiritingly, far more red ink than blue, but Sasuke found himself looking forward to the day. Class would be boring, his fellow classmates annoying and troublesome, and Naruto would no doubt also still be noisy, but it left him less time alone with his thoughts. The Uchiha Clan had been known to be quiet and secretive which, Sasuke knew, was code for ‘brooding’ and as the last Uchiha in the compound, Sasuke had become a world-class brooder. If there had been a brooding portion of the Graduation Exam, he would have already passed it, with Shino Aburame as a distant second.

Annoyed with himself, he tore his eyes away from the scroll and dragged himself into the shower. As he half-heartedly attempted to wrestle his hair into shape before abandoning it to its usual feathered sprawl, he heard a knock at the door. He was only partly annoyed to see it was Hound, mask over his face once more, who was there with a cheerful “Yo!” when he opened it.

“Don’t you ever sleep?”

“Only in ninety-minute intervals, three hours if I’m lucky. You should treasure your sleep Sasuke.”

“I would if I didn’t have class. Why are you here so early anyway?”

Hound shrugged, his armor clanking slightly with the motion. “Shift change, as usual. I could just wait around for you to leave, but you have perfectly comfortable chairs inside. And tea.” He added pointedly.

Sasuke scowled. “Normally I invite guests into my house, they don’t invite themselves. And how do you keep getting past the Estate barriers anyway?”

Hound tipped his mask back, then looking around guiltily before replacing it, granting Sasuke a glimpse of the red eye on his left side. “Sharingan, remember? Your father added me to the barriers and the Clan Scroll as an Uchiha out of formality. Only ever that, though.” He added hastily, holding up his hands as Sasuke closed the door behind them. “Don’t expect me to move in here.”

The silence told him everything he needed to know about that particular idea.

Kakashi leaned against the doorframe, mask hooked to his hip as Sasuke threw together breakfast which consisted of toast and half a vegetable drawer in a blender and winced as the machine roared in the corner.

“You never mentioned how you got that Sharingan. The Scroll said Obito Uchiha gave it to you, that he was a hero of some kind of battle.”

Kakashi winced and contemplated if simply returning to the trees instead of knocking would have been easier. Probably. Could he ever really say what Obito meant to him? How much his gift had seen or what it had helped him do, both good and ill in Anbu? He doubted it.

Sasuke was spreading jam on his toast with a methodical intensity and still staring at him. Curse the brat for asking such hard questions. Why couldn’t he have asked if Kakashi knew any fire jutsu? He knew plenty of those.

“The Hero of the Battle of Kanabi Bridge?” prompted Sasuke. “Did you seriously forget?”

“Never!” Kakashi shot forward, boosting away from the door and sharply gripping the back of one of the chairs to stop himself from slamming the table outright. “I could never forget something like that, what he did for me.”

There was silence as Sasuke looked guilty, then busied himself with eating the toast.

“So he gave you the Sharingan…why?”

“To protect my comrades, to protect the village. He made me promise…”

Sasuke didn’t think it was possible to quietly finish off toast, but was making every effort to do so,

“Those who don’t follow the rules are scum, but those who don’t protect their comrades, are even less than scum.” Kakashi’s voice was low and Sasuke wasn’t sure if the man was addressing him or not. They were both spared the awkwardness of the conversation by a tingling feeling on the back of their neck. In an instant, Hound’s mask was back on and Sasuke was standing, mentally cataloguing where weapons were in the house.

“Someone’s at the gates to the compound,” said Hound, his voice smooth and professional once more. “I’ll check.” He disappeared out the door in a perfect shunshin and Sasuke sat back down to his smoothie.

_______________

The morning had found Cat, known without her mask as Yūgao Uzuki, where she belonged, namely in bed along with most of Konoha. She rolled out of bed, cast a fond gaze at the still-sleeping Hayato, and rolled through her own morning routine which involved considerably more hidden knives than most civilians or even chunin.

She met a wavering Owl halfway above the Kanrakugai District and signaled her formal acceptance of the shift change, but the large man still waved her over.

“He’s out and about early this time.” He grumbled. “Must’ve been eager to talk to Uchiha again. You say anything to him?”

Cat shook her head. “Nothing important, just advice on how to manage today. They’re going to be swarmed with questions.”

He looked at her curiously. “What do you think the odds are they let something slip?”

“I’m not taking that bet, Hozuki. More specific.”

“Odds they spill an S-Class secret?”

“Sixty in favor for direct, thirty percent it’s accidental, and ten says Uchiha somehow gets the kid to talk around it. Kid’s smart.”

Owl scribbled something on a notepad and stopped, pencil poised. “Want in on the pool? Most of the Fox Squad came by last night to trade stories, but you only get the really juicy ones if you ante up.”

She huffed in fond exasperation. “That’s cruel and unusual punishment, but I’m in. Put me down for half a month’s pay on Uchiha talking the kid out of something direct.”

Owl whistled. “Living dangerously Cat. I thought you were saving up for that blade in Tanzunaki Square.”

“It’ll be worth it to see Bat’s face if I win.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

They looked down to see the small orange and yellow blur turn the corner towards the Uchiha district, waving up at them even as he came into view, voice piercing in the morning air. “Hiiiii Cat-san!”

She sagged for a moment, but straightened and ducked behind a water tower. “I still haven’t figured out how he does that. We hide our chakra and stay out of sight ninety percent of the time.”

Owl shrugged. “Just accept it, it’s my cue to leave anyway.”

He disappeared in a swirl of leaves as Naruto continued to shout at the general vicinity.

“Cat-san! Caaaaat-sannnn!”

She dropped down in front of him, rolling to soften the three story landing even with chakra, and hissed. “Quit shouting will you? We can’t guard you if we’re not stealthy!”

Naruto kept walking. “But I always know where you guys are even when you’re hiding, so you must not be very good at it. Or I'm pretty awesome! And we’re in the village aren’t we? Danzo-sama isn’t going to hurt you guys.”

Cat fell into step beside him even as every instinct of her training told her to go up, to hide, to cast a genjutsu, anything that wasn’t walking in the middle of the street. Damm that Kakashi for falling to pieces!

“Anbu is supposed to be secret, just as you are,” she replied shortly. “I hope you remember that today, because I’ll have to report on this to the Hokage.”

“Will I get you in trouble, just for talking to you?”

“Maybe,” she reluctantly conceded. “I’ll be lectured at about the need for secrecy and so will you, if the Council has finished losing their minds about Saturday’s little spectacle.”

Naruto grinned up at her. “That’s fine! I get lectured at by Jiji and Iruka-sensei all the time, and then I have to do chores, but that’s not so bad. Do Anbu do chores?”

She thought. “Supply runs and sentry duty count, I suppose. But don’t ask for specifics,” she warned as he opened his mouth.

“So does that mean guarding me is a chore?”

She had to head this off at the pass.

“Not really,” she lied. “Mostly it’s a chance for Anbu to rest after a difficult mission or if their minds need some time to heal. You’re not actively trying to kill us, so it’s an easier assignment than most.”

Naruto looked guilty. “So when I covered Eagle-san in blue paint or hid from Bat-san all day-“

“Yes.” Cat was brutal in her assessment. “You were causing unnecessary work for shinobi who deserve some rest and recuperation.” Her voice softened slightly. “Bat was quite impressed though, as am I. You’ve got half the barracks wondering how you catch us.”

“Oh that’s easy.” Naruto beamed. “You guys all smell horribly.”

She blanched and reflexively checked. Yes, she had put deodorant on and was glad of it. Konoha summers could be torture in dark Anbu gear, especially the mask headband.

“I don’t smell!”

“Well, not as much as some of the others. You smell like somebody burnt a piece of pork, just a bit.” He wrinkled his face in disgust. “Monkey-san smelled like he died.”

They were silent as she thought.

Monkey had a dark reputation in Anbu, even darker than “Friend-Killer Kakashi”, but every six months there he was, signing on to the Anbu roster again. And psychologists kept clearing him, so he stayed. Apparently, all he took were assassination missions except for the rare times someone shoved him onto the Fox Squad roster. That made sense. But…

“How far can you smell us from?” she interrogated. None of the Inuzuka or even Kakashi ever mentioned anything like this.

Naruto shrugged. “Ehhh, maybe two blocks. Three if you aren’t hiding your chakra.”

“Can you tell all of us apart?”

“Not really. The more time I spend around someone, the easier it is to pick them out.” The little bastard actually winked at her. “Kaka-uh, Hound-san is easy because he’s been around a bunch, but you’re new, so it should take a month or so. Most of the Anbu-san who show up regularly I can pick out.”

“But…that’s…” she sputtered. _Not an exceptionally far distance, but for him to spot Anbu who were trying to hide… even ignoring the destructive potential of the Kyuubi, he could be an effective sensor shinobi_.

“Annoying, right?”

Cat huffed. “Uzumaki-san, I don’t know if I should be happy or mad at you.”

“How come?”

“Your sensory ability, even without training, is well above average, if lacking in distance. I’m tempted to ask…” she trailed off, remembering the last time an Acadamy student was fast-tracked through the ranks. The depopulated Uchiha district they turned towards now stood as a testament for how bad an idea that was.

“Yeah, Cat-san?”

She waved a dismissive gesture at Naruto. “Forget it. Go see Uchiha-san.”

Naruto ran full force towards the Uchiha District walls, only to bounce off the air in front of the gates like a pinball. He skidded to a stop with no discernable injuries, sheepish. “Oh, yeah. We should probably call Sasuke somehow.”

Cat rolled her eyes behind the mask. “He’ll have felt that, don’t worry.”

A few seconds later, Hound appeared in a swirl of leaves and relaxed his grip on his sword in the same moment. “Of course, I should have expected.” He drawled, making a Horse sign and waving them through. They walked through the gates with no discernable resistance as Naruto turned to Hound.

“Hey Hound-san, can I get Sasuke to add me to the barrier so I don’t do that next time?”

“We’ll see,” was all Hound said.

Naruto sulked the rest of the trip until he spotted Sasuke loitering in front of his home, whereupon he launched himself down a quarter of the street to engulf the last Uchiha in something that was half a tackle and half a hug. Sasuke tossed him over his shoulder on pure instinct and opened his mouth to apologize as Naruto was dusting himself off.

“Nah, it’s no worry” said the nonchalant Uzumaki. “I can walk off all sorts of stuff. One time I fell while playing in a construction site and was healed by the time I got home. It must be some Uzumaki thing from my Mom, right?”

The Anbu exchanged a glance. It wasn’t.

“C’mon idiot. We’re going to be late for class as it is.”

“What if we get Cat-San and Hound-san to carry us there? We’ll be on time for sure, then!”

“We’re not carrying you,” stated Cat flatly. “You both have working feet.”

The boys immediately began running towards the entrance to the Uchiha District as she shot Hound a look. “Are you always going to make me be the bad mask here?”

Hound winked from behind his mask. “As long as I can get away with it.”

In the end, the last Uzumaki and the last Uchiha arrived at Konoha’s Ninja Academy six seconds later than the final bell. Their seats were both on the far side of the room, so both were forced to endure the long, slow, agonizing walk across the rows of staring students who ignored pencil bags and folders in favor of gaping like open-mouthed fish at the late arrivals.

“Alright, alright, settle down!” shouted Imino Iruka, the scarred Academy chunin.

Though there was some whispering, the class on environmental traps passed without incident. Lunch, however, proved to be an altogether different matter.

“Where did you get that sword?”

“What did the Hokage say?”

“Are you in trouble?”

“I can’t believe you actually threatened one of the adults!”

“You’ll never become a ninja like this, Naruto!”

“Yeah, they’re gonna kick you out for this!”

“It’s not like he’s good at anything unlike Sasuke.”

“Hey!” barked Sasuke. “Shut your mouths!” But the questions and insults just kept coming.

“Are the Anbu gonna lock you up?”

“Sasuke-kun, you looked so cute in that armor!”

“Shut up Ino-pig, Sasuke doesn’t care about that! What did he say about that guy last week?”

“Yeah! Do you know him?”

“Is it a secret?”

“Now now,” placated Iruka, wading through the crowd of students around Naruto and Sasuke with his hands moving students back from the boys. “I’m sure we’re all very interested to hear what Sasuke-san and Naruto-san have to say about their weekend, but let’s keep this polite. There is absolutely no call for anyone to be kicked out of this class, let alone the village! You are all still under my authority and if any one of you say a word about such punishment again, I’ll be calling your parents!”

That at least got the kids to back off and Sasuke was surprised to feel Naruto bumping into his side. Sasuke tapped his knuckles against the blonde’s in silent support, who was glaring at the girl who’d asked that.

“Jeeze Iyami! It’s not like I threw a kunai at you, just some wrinkly old turnip head.”

A few of the students giggled at that as Iruka, seeing Naruto was supported by Sasuke, made his way back to his desk. She stuck her tongue out at the other blonde.

“Not like that’s any better. Sasuke-kun, why’d you even pick him for your big ceremony? You know we’d love to help you.” The girl batted her eyelashes at him and Sasuke just stared back coldly.

“Naruto’s…” he paused, remembering all the red on that scroll. So much he wasn’t allowed to say, secrets sucked. “He saved my life on Saturday, so he’s good. The only person you’re interested in Iyami, is yourself. Now leave us alone.”

Some of the kids gasped theatrically, while others _ooohed_ in appreciation at Sasuke’s words. Even more mystery to ponder, but Sasuke had asked them to leave him alone, so they obliged. Now Naruto got the brunt of the attention.

“So Naruto, tell us how you saved Sasuke’s life! If he’s saying it, it must be true or pretty juicy.”

The Uzumaki grinned and prepared to milk this opportunity for all it was worth.

“Well, it was pouring rain Saturday night, so I’m getting ready to go to bed when I hear screaming and all sorts of noise from my window. I run over and Sasuke’s hanging off the edge, and he started to fall. So I jumped out the window and pulled him back up into my apartment! You guys shoulda’ seen me, it was totally wicked.”

Sasuke kicked him under the table.

“Okay, I opened the window and pulled him back in. Fine, fine. But we got to talkin’ and he helped me figure out all sorts of stuff, like why my birthday sucks, who my mom was, and the Kyu-“

“You forgot the downstairs tenant,” interrupted the Last Uchiha. “The guy who kept banging on the floor half the night.”

Naruto looked sheepish but rallied immediately. “Yeah, we’re a pretty good team and now we’re gonna learn all sorts of stuff about my Mom too! She was super badass and her name was Kushina Uzumaki, believe it!”

He grinned defiantly at the rest of the class and with their curiosity satisfied, most of the class drifted away.

Back in their seats Shikamaru rolled his eyes. “So much bother this weekend. I barely saw my dad. How about you Choji?”

The Akimichi shrugged and opened his third bag of chips. “Big meeting with the Hokage on Saturday, not much else. What do you think?”

“I think it’s above our pay grade.”

“We don’t get paid, we aren’t even genin yet.”

“Exactly.”

The Nara fell asleep just as Choji finished off the third bag. Sometimes, a good nap cleared the mind.

“Naruto, that’s-“

“Genius, right? Cat-san’s suggestion was all about redirecting force, y’know? Like when you threw me over your shoulder this morning. We can do the same thing with all those girls!”

Sasuke waited for Naruto to try again.

“She said if we were friends with one of the girls, she’d get the others to stop bugging you.”

“But I don’t want to be friends with any of them. I don’t have time for that.”

“You’re friends with me, how is this different?”

“You saved my life when I was about to fall out of a window, like I said.”

“I also kicked you in the balls.”

“Hn.”

They sat in silence for a while as their gazes drifted across the room.

“Hinata Hyuga? She sits next to me and is part of one of those Noble Clans you mentioned. Kinda cute, too.”

“Too shy. Even if she said you were her husband, none of the girls would listen. Or even hear her in the first place.”

“Ino Yamanaka then? She can take care of herself, no problem. Remember that sparring match she volunteered for with Iyami?” Naruto’s smile had a bit too many teeth in it.

“Vividly. That’s the problem. She’d never shut up about _Sasuke-kun_.”

Naruto turned to him in exasperation. “Are you going to nitpick every suggestion I make? There’s only so many kids here!”

“And I have so little patience for them.”

Naruto finished his lunch and Sasuke silently handed over the second bento box he’d packed in his bag. A sight better than mushrooms, but Sasuke hated feeling in debt to anyone.

“No way, I couldn’t-“

“Just eat it, idiot.”

Naruto’s token protest vanished as he broke it open and began to eat.

“Sho, if Ino’sh out, how ‘bout Sakura?”

Sasuke was about to ask if he was kidding but stopped. They’d been in class for two years and though he was one of the best in their class, the key words there were _one of_. Sakura Haruno beat the pants off him in every academic test they’d taken. For him, a 90 was a low grade, but to a perfectionist like Sakura, a 95 was a failure.

“Hmm.”

Naruto glanced over at him, a stray grain of rice stuck to his cheek. “What?”

“She’s smarter than me. That’s something.”

Naruto was staring now. “You’re kidding.”

“She’s horrid at taijutsu and passable at ninjutsu so far. But she’s scored better than me on every test we’ve ever taken.”

“How do you know that? It’s not like our scores are posted on the wall.”

“When someone’s beating me, I make it a point to know. Even if she’s totally useless as a ninja, she can help us out with this.”

“Come on, nobody’s totally useless. I’m supposed to be the Dead Last right? An’ I still saved your butt. You’re the Great Sasuke Uchiha and you jumped into my window.”

“Your point?”

Naruto shrugged, uncomfortable with the direction this conversation had taken. “People can surprise you. Like me, or Kakash-!”

“Shhhh!”

Sasuke put his hand over Naruto’s mouth. “We’re not supposed to talk about that, remember?”

In the tree outside, Cat turned to Beetle. “Is Hound’s name a S-Class Secret?” The other Anbu shook his head. “B-Class for all our identities, for all the good that does, Miss Purple Hair.”

She cursed and dug into her back pocket for her wallet. Beetle would be buying the next round of drinks for sure.

Inside, the conversation continued.

“Sasuke, like you said, we still have lots of questions! A girl with a great memory who loves the library could help us find all sorts of stuff! Do I look like I know what filing system they use?”

He got an Uchiha smile in return. “Do you even know how to read?”

Naruto made a rude hand gesture which drew the wrath of Iruka like a magnet.

“Naruto Uzumaki, be polite!”

The blonde flashed a thumb’s up and the teacher went back to grading.

“So whaddya say?”

“Go for it. You go talk to her.”

Naruto’s face turned white. “Why should I? You’re the popular one. She probably hates my guts.”

“I’m not popular, I’m a genius.” Sasuke said scornfully. “They’re putting me up on a pedestal, just like they did for Him. You’re the only person I’ve had a conversation with in-“

He paused, not liking how long it was taking for him to recall.

“A while,” he finished lamely.

Naruto was, for once, silent. They had a knack for getting each other to be a little too honest. Beetle and Cat would have said they were starved for conversation. “Look, if this goes wrong, come save me, ok?”

“How will I know what that looks like?”

“When she punches me in the face.”

Ino and Sakura were deep in discussion about the scraps of news Ino’s father had mentioned over dinner when Naruto sidled up. They instantly clammed up and gave him a deeply familiar skeptical eye. Ino spoke first.

“So what do you want?”

“Uh, I was actually hoping to talk to Sakura-chan.”

Sakura barely stopped herself from glancing back at Sasuke. “About what?”

“Well, um,” Naruto was twiddling with his fingers again, but the girls gazed back curiously.

“There’s a whole lotta stuff we’re not allowed to talk about-“

“Then don’t talk about it,” sighed Ino. “Fourth rule of Shinobi conduct, remember?”

Naruto rallied back to Sakura. “ Anyway, I wanted your help doin’ research. Sasuke says you’re really smart, so maybe you can help us. Turns out my mom’s Kushina Uzumaki, from some place called Uzushio. Ever heard of it?”

Sakura was skeptical. “Why are you asking me instead of the other adults, like Iruka-sensei?” “Well,” he gestured for her to lean closer, which she did reluctantly. “Sasuke’s trying to make all the other girls stop bugging him and we think you could help.”

Sakura was torn between skepticism and hope. She looked over and sure enough, Sasuke was watching them out of the corner of his eye. A chance to get closer to Sasuke-kun and tick off girls like Iyami who’d mocked her for her forehead? It was perfect, until she remembered Ino.

She looked back to see her friend watching her and Naruto with a kind of guarded curiosity she showed anyone who wasn’t her friend. If Sakura did this, she’d think the pink-haired girl was trying to one-up her with Sasuke, and she could wave good-bye to her first friendship. Naruto’s face was nakedly hopeful, and that made her pause too. “Wait just a minute.”

Sakura fled back to Ino. “Sasuke-kun and Naruto want me to help them with some research they say would help keep Iyami off their backs.”

Ino crossed her arms and looked between Naruto, waiting patiently, and Sasuke, who was still in The Pose Passed Down the Ikari Line for Generations with his hands hiding his face.

“Is this about trying to get Sasuke before me?”

 ** _Yes, you dummy. I’d be blind to not take this chance, as long as I can keep Naruto distracted. His mom sounds interesting, whoever she was, but I can keep Sasuke all to myself if I do this right,_** thought Inner Sakura.

“It’s not, I swear! Naruto’s trying to find out more about his Mom and Sasuke just doesn’t want girls like Iyami trying to get their claws in him.”

“On that, we can agree.” Ino shrugged. “You’ll be begging for my help the longer you spend with Naruto in the library though. Remember that project on chakra formation we had last month? He never answered his phone and vanished. I had to write the whole thing myself.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sakura walked back to Naruto and nodded her agreement as she glanced over at Ino, who waved at her. “Well, go on then. Go find your mystery!”

Sakura stuck her tongue out at Ino, then remembered Naruto was there and mentally kicked herself. “I haven’t heard that name you mentioned before, but more info could help. Know anything else about her?”

Naruto shrugged. “Somebody mentioned she had chakra chains that sounded pretty cool, y’know?”

“Chakra chains? Iruka-sensei never mentioned anything like that.”

“Like I said, we don’t know a whole lot an’ we’ve got a lotta stuff to figure out. Wish I knew more.”

“Well, now you’ve got me curious. Now two mysterious family members and a secret jutsu! You think Iruka-sensei would let us into the chunin floors of the library? I could check the Konoha Bloodline Compendium and see what I find. Or maybe-“

Naruto groaned as he trailed back towards Sasuke, Sakura chattering up a storm behind him. He’d hoped to get the eggheads to do all the reading, but the prospect of hours stuck in a library with boring books made him want to tear his hair out. He could see Sasuke’s smirk from here.

Outside, Beetle groaned as Cat pumped her fist. “That’s two S-Class secrets right there, Uzushio’s Fall and Chakra Chains, eat my shorts!”

“Oh come on, Uzushio’s Fall isn’t an S-Class Secret, it’s in the chunin history section! How are her chains an S-rank anyway?”

Cat’s mask somehow managed to look smug as it looked down at his tree branch. “Seeing as how it contained the Nine-Tails, that makes it a method of high-class, uncopiable, sealing jutsu known to less than five people.”

“You don’t know how many people still alive could use chakra chains, no marks for incomplete answers!”

“How many people inside the Leaf Village, Beetle?”

Beetle pondered, then hung his head in defeat.

“Fine, that’s one. Now explain how Uzushio’s an S-Class.”

And so the afternoon went, as Indra’s arrival caused the first of the changes that would take the world by storm. And if all that could be noticed were three children now sitting together at lunchtime, well, that was hardly worth noting right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally get to Sakura! Of all the characters, she's going to be in for one wild ride, especially when we get to the aftermath of- well, that would be telling.
> 
> Arguably, Naruto is being too analytical here, but he's mostly just throwing out ideas and acting as the "face" because Sasuke, for all his marginal improvements, still has his head up his own butt.


	12. Anbu Fishwives and a Torrid Romance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura does what she does best: Research! The fallout is impressive.

A week later, they’d made little progress on their mystery parents which frustrated Sakura to no end. She and Sasuke had spent several hours at the library, which would normally have been perfect to get closer, but Naruto had the obnoxious habit of always butting in just when she’d made up the courage to scoot her chair closer to his, or reach over his shoulder to pick up a book she didn’t really need. Inner Sakura was begging for her to belt Naruto when Sasuke wasn’t looking, but just as Naruto foiled her plans for Sasuke, Sasuke foiled her plans for Naruto. It was maddening, and she’d had to stop herself from grinding her teeth lately. Ino had said that stress was bad for her complexion.

So Sakura returned to their table on the second-floor chunin section of the Konoha Public Records Division with the last of the scrolls available on the Third Great Ninja War and a simmering anger she did her best to not show. “Here’s the last of it. What did you say your Mom’s nickname was?”

She knew what it was, she just wanted to hear Sasuke say it. The boy’s expression softened slightly from his resting pout, which made her want to stay, no matter how annoying Naruto was. “Raven-winged Mikoto”

Sakura sighed dreamily, the way she’d seen ladies in movies do as she sat down and opened the first scroll. “Do you think we’ll get nicknames one day? When we’re all ninja?”

Sasuke’s gaze stayed fixed on his own scroll. “I have no doubt.”

Sakura was smiling her hardest at him. “What do you think yours would be?”

Realizing she wasn’t going to stop talking, Sasuke lifted his eyes from the scroll and thought. “Sasuke the Avenger sounds good.”

She was struggling to keep a straight face. **What a drama queen! Were all the Uchiha like this?**

With some difficulty, she forced her thoughts away from scorn, in case it showed on her face. Then Sasuke really wouldn’t like her, and she’d have to go crawling back to Ino. She’d already spent enough time about him to notice the Uchiha heir could be sensitive, most of which resulted in sullen silences and a refusal to communicate for the rest of a research session.

“Well, I was thinking about Sakura of the Razor Petals! I’ve been working on my kunai accuracy and your-um-friend, gave me a few tips. If I get good enough, I could paint my kunai pink and it could be my signature move!” She looked around, but no one was within earshot. “Cat-san is really cool, right?”

Sasuke thought about it for a moment and nodded. “She is an adequate teacher.”

Coming from Sasuke, that was already high praise, so Sakura was glad to have something in common with him at last. “You think we could meet tonight and practice together?”

Sasuke gave her a puzzled look and she kicked herself internally. **Really obvious Sakura, just kiss him and see if he likes it! C’mon you can do it! All this setup is putting me to sleep!**

“We’re together right now, doing research, aren’t we?”

“But a ninja has to keep their mind and body sharp in equal measure,” she protested, borrowing from Iruka-sensei’s lecture two months ago.

“I might -“

Sasuke’s evasion was cut off as Naruto’s shout rang out across the silent floor, causing them both to wince. “GUYS, I FOUND THEM!”

They rushed down the aisle, abandoning their scrolls to see Naruto staring at a weathered old book with fascination, which was certainly unusual. Getting him to read for any length was like pulling teeth.

“Would you shut up!” Sasuke scolded, administering a light slap to the side of Naruto’s head, but the blonde didn’t even notice and that really got their attention. Naruto began to read aloud, but at a lower volume.

_Diary of Uzenku Akimichi,_

_March 16 th, Year 47 of the Modern Era_

_Started the day with a brisk morning run, had eggs and ketchup for breakfast-_

_“_ Look, just skip to the part we’re interested in” cut in Sasuke. Naruto shrugged and moved his finger a paragraph lower down.

_Saw Kushina and Mikoto Uchiha at lunch in camp, they had news from the Northern Front. They lost cousin Toji in a running battle in Kozu Forest, but took out six Cloud Ninja each. Kushina said hers were all jonin, and Mikoto laughed like it was the best joke in the world. I heard they were close, but they’re practically ‘sharing shuriken’, and in public too! I told them to keep it to the tents and left with my food. Minato “ran into me” a few hours later on my night patrol with Kakashi and told me to watch my mouth. Idiot, it’s not like he’s dating her, so why does he think he can stick his nose in people’s business. Sounds like that “Yellow Flash” nickname might have gone to his head. I try not to go to bed mad at anyone, but he can be a real jerk!_

They pondered the passage in silence for a few moments before Naruto broke it.

“Man, our parents sound super cool, right Sasuke? They fought twelve ninja at the same time and won!”

“We don’t know if they had help, Naruto. This diary sounds pretty unreliable anyway.”

Sakura stared at him, he’d crossed his arms and looked slightly disappointed. “Just because this guy was rude, doesn’t mean he lied in his personal diary.”

Naruto was rereading the passage. “Guys, what does ‘sharing shuriken’ mean? I mean, everybody’s got the same ones, right? What’s the big deal?”

The boys shrugged and turned to Sakura who had blushed a deep crimson and shrank back.

“What, Sakura?”

She’d heard the phrase late one night, when she’d stayed up to watch a documentary on archeology and flipped channels to a grown-up drama on HBL she absolutely wasn’t allowed to see. **Oh, you have to tell them, the looks on their faces will be priceless!** cackled Inner Sakura. _That doesn’t seem very nice though, maybe I should ask an adult first?_ **Fine, ask Cat-san when we all go back to train. You’re such a buzzkill, no wonder Sasuke doesn’t want to date you.**

She firmly shut the door in her own face and blinked to find the two boys staring at her.

“What?” she snapped, a more embarrassed than anything. “Keep reading, you nimrod!”

“Hn. It doesn’t tell us much on its own, anything else?”

Naruto flipped a few pages, scanning, and pounced like a fox on a cornered rabbit, his eyes shining with excitement.

_April 29 th, Year 47 of the Modern Era_

_Exhausted by today’s fighting, but this journal helps keep things straight. Maybe it’ll be a good record for the history books, like Ebisu always talks about._

_We got diverted to Kozu Forest after reports of heavy fighting and met up with Kushina halfway. Her flak jacket was covered in blood and all torn up, but she said she was fine. Our medical ninja wanted to stop and check her out, but Kushina kept leaping along like the rest of us, so she must’ve been fine. Kept flickering out of the corner of my eye though, like she was gonna catch fire and she had her teeth bared. Pretty spooky really, and it made me rethink the whole “sharing shuriken” incident last month. She probably forgot. I really hope she forgot._

_We got to the battle and most of Kushina’s squad fell into the walking wounded category, so we pitched in to help before Cloud overran us. I got tied up fighting some Chunin with a vacuum blade, lost my left shoulder plate before I squashed him. Big surprise, Mikoto was there, covering us with those shadow wings of hers-_

Naruto elbowed Sasuke, nodded, and Sasuke shoved him back a little harder than necessary. “Keep going!”

_-which she ‘adapted’ from the Nara Clan’s techniques. I don’t really look down on jutsu theft when the Uchiha who did it saved my bacon, but I saved hers from a nasty Earth Spear, so I think we’re even. Unfortunately the second Spear through her chest brought her down, and Kushina just freaking lost it. She might be a deviant, but she’s something else when she gets going, even without those Chains. Tore that guy’s throat out with her teeth and went to town on the rest of his squad. Wasn’t much left for the Leaf to do after that, but we kept away until it looked like Kushina wasn’t going to snap at us, which took the better part of an hour. Fortunately, our medic survived and was able to patch the Uchiha up enough that we could take her back to see Tsunadae. It was a close thing though._

_In the interests of my own safety, I tried to apologize to Kushina on the run back to camp, and she nearly bit my head off. Figuratively, thank the Sage, but still. I have no idea what Minato sees in her. Sure she’s good looking, but my Tsume is actually pleasant to be around. Anyway, rest of the day was taken up by reports to Division Lead Hotaru and searching for a replacement armor piece. Got onigirazu for dinner with crispy chicken so at least today wasn’t all bad._

Naruto flipped through a few more pages and shrugged. “That’s it, but wow. My mom really was a badass!”

Sakura cringed slightly. “She killed someone with her teeth, though? That’s pretty scary! That Akimichi guy might have had a point. Have you ever heard of someone doing that?”

Naruto’s expression grew dark. “It might have been the Nin-“

“Downstairs tenant,” interrupted Sasuke. “Idiot.”

Now it was Sakura’s turn to be confused, while Naruto and Sasuke conducted some silent battle of wills in front of her. “Are you going to tell me what that’s about?”

“Hn.” And for now, that was that.

They spent the rest of the hour looking over the other scrolls Sakura had pulled, but still found nothing more on Mikoto Uchiha or Kushina Uzumaki in the files on the Third Great Ninja War. Abandoning the project for now, they returned to the Uchiha Estate’s dojo, which was rapidly becoming a regular meeting place for additional training after school in the late afternoon, mostly with Hound, who kept his mask on now that Sakura was there. Cat on the other hand, was rapidly and unwillingly becoming Sakura’s confidante on the struggles of dating Uchiha while the Uchiha in question lurked in the yard carving branches into short swords. At least he was getting faster at it.

Sakura was in the middle of throwing her third volley of kunai at a small wooden target when an idea struck her.

“Cat-san, do they record Anbu missions during wars?”

Cat reluctantly turned away from watching Hound and Naruto batter away at each other with sticks. “What makes you ask that?”

“Well, we’ve been doing research about Naruto’s mom, but she’s never on the duty rosters they kept from the Third Great Ninja War. Sasuke’s mom shows up a little bit, but not regularly the way others do. I had a few questions, really.”

Cat let out a long-suffering sigh and adjusted her stance.

“Anbu are always iffy about keeping records and plenty of paperwork got lost in the war, or just wasn’t preserved in the Library. You’re letting your imagination get away from you.”

**That bitch is lying to us! Keep going!**

Sakura sent a mental high-five to her mental counterpart and pressed on. “Well, people could have lots of reasons to be sneaky during a war, so you’re right. It doesn’t mean they were Anbu.” She pretended to think for a few moments before launching her next kunai with a little more force than she normally did. “Can Anbu people date each other? You and Hound could be cute.”

A few feet away, Hound’s water break was interrupted by a magnificent spittake and a bout of coughing as Cat laughed. “Wow, Sakura, you’ve got some bite to you for sure. But no, that wouldn’t work.”

“She’s taken, and I’m uninterested,” piped up Hound. “Anbu are officially forbidden from dating each other because it upsets squad dynamics.”

“It happens anyway,” said Cat and her mask seemed to look slightly smug again. “Squad relationships aren’t unusual in the regular ninja forces and Anbu’s no different, just a little more unorthodox. Danzo is clever enough to let it slide, most of the time.”

Sakura grinned and threw two kunai simultaneously and didn’t even look when the _thunks_ announced they’d hit home. She gestured for Hound and Cat to lean in closer, which they did. “You gotta promise to not tell first.”

They promised, as Naruto looked over to see what was keeping his teacher.

“It’s a secret, but I think Naruto’s mom and Sasuke’s mom used to date.”

Cat’s mask looked even smugger and Hound collapsed on the grass cackling, which drew the boys over to see what the commotion was. “And what makes you say that?”

Sakura relayed the details of the Akimichi diary they’d found to great amusement.

Hound put his hands behind his head and stared up into the sky. “That’s nothing! One time I went looking for Guy and caught them behind the supply pallets with their hands all up-“

Cat reared back and kicked him in the side.

“You know…” he said weakly, “I realize this may not be the best story for young and innocent ears.”

Sasuke looked mulish and stabbed his half-finished wooden sword into the ground. “I’m not innocent, and neither is Naruto. He lived in the Kanrakugai District.”

“Yeah! Wait, whaddya mean ‘lived’? I still do!”

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. “In that dump? No way. You’re staying here, we can grab your stuff on the weekend.”

Naruto protested, Sasuke refused to allow an ‘Uchiha vassal’ to live in such squalor, and they were off. Sakura sighed and turned back to the quietly amused Anbu. “So, girls liking girls, that seems weird, right?”

“Not really,” said Hound. “It’s just the same as girls liking boys, or boys liking boys. It’s all natural, really. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“People keep saying that,” Sakura complained as she resumed her target practice. “I want to understand stuff now!”

“You know, I didn’t think I’d be having this conversation with anyone until much later. Look what you’ve dragged me into Hound. Hayate’s still working up the courage to propose, if you can believe that.”

“I’ve seen how many knives you hide on your person, you are a terrifying woman.”

Cat beamed and handed Sakura another kunai.

“You can just call me Kakashi while we’re here.” he admitted, gesturing as Sasuke returned fuming to his sticks and Naruto determinedly whacked away at the air, his feet rooted. “I let that slip earlier and the Uchiha put it together. Turns out “Friend-Killer Kakashi” is a name that is memorable even outside the Anbu.”

Cat looked down. “I never called you that.”

“No but others did,” he said mildly. “I’m putting it in the past now.”

“How come?” Hound gestured at the three students, all focused on their tasks.

“To focus on the future.”

________________________

Two days later, Sasuke finished all his sticks and Cat pronounced them satisfactory. He took the opportunity to ask for more details about his Mom and Kushina, mostly his mom. Both Anbu told him they were a little too young to see the “torrid jacket-bursting romance” in full but had plenty of gossip from Ibiki Morino. As it turned out, Anbu have lots of waiting, guarding, and dead time, so they gossip like old fishwives about everything that isn’t classified and some things that are if it’s juicy enough. They motioned Naruto and Sakura over and the children settled under the oak tree for a story, with equal amounts of fascination.

“Apparently Kushina and Mikoto had been friends for a long time, though Minato did always have a crush on Kushina once he saved her from some Mist Ninja. However, he was somewhat flighty and wasn’t around her for a while because he was so head-over-heels in love. The war made them stay away, then come together intermittently, where he really tried to woo her.”

At that, Naruto made a ‘gross’ face while Sakura let out a squeal only two notes off from a teakettle. Sasuke’s face was impassive, of course, so Cat continued the story:

“Despite herself Kushina did find herself attracted to him, but also loved Mikoto deeply and wanted to go for the Hokage position. She was willing to fight the Uchiha and the Leaf’s Elders to keep Mikoto with her.”

Sakura sighed dreamily. It might not have been the story she’d thought of, but it was indeed romantic. “So why did she marry my Father?” said Sasuke, looking equal parts conflicted and suspicious as he stared at Cat.

“I’m getting there. Anyway, the Uchiha clan ordered the unification of Fugaku and Mikoto’s bloodlines to both clamp down on the rumors they thought were scandalous to the clan and to make sure there was another generation of Uchiha. At that point, so many people had died that some of us were worried there wouldn’t be enough left to have kids among the clans.”

Sakura nodded and turned excitedly to Naruto and Sasuke’s skeptical faces. “I read about this! Maintaining genetic diversity inside a clan while preserving the bloodline traits is really tricky, even with all the medical improvements Princess Tsunadae Senju made! Some people marry outside the clan, and some people get told to marry within the clan, even if it’s not very romantic.”

“What, so I could have had to marry my sister? That’s disgusting!” said Sasuke. Sakura shook her head. “Nothing like that, the families with children of about the same age would get together and try to set up marriages between people who were genetically viable and who had good personalities. You would have had to marry…” she frowned, mapping the relations in her head, “a cousin twice removed or something. A stranger, genetically speaking.”

Hound let out a low whistle of surprise. “The kid’s smart. Where’d you learn all of this?”

Sakura blushed, unused to the praise. “I started doing research last week by using the Konoha Bloodline Compendium, it had a bunch of useful information. Pretty boring though”

“All this genetic junk is making me fall asleep! Go back to the story Cat-san!” pleaded Naruto.

“Fine. Anyway, when the match was announced, Kushina and the Uchiha Clan head at the time got into a screaming match while Fugaku and Mikoto tried to calm them down. Ultimately, there was nothing she could do and Mikoto had to get married anyway. Fugaku took it all in stride though, and that bought him a lot of credit with his new wife. Nobody’s sure if Mrs. Uchiha dumped Mrs. Uzumaki or if it was the other way ‘round, but the breakup was pretty dramatic. Talk of the village for days.”

Naruto looked fascinated while Sasuke was starting to brood, so Kakashi nudged him with a boot and gave him a thumbs up. Sasuke snorted and went back to Cat’s story.

“After the wedding, Kushina ran to Minato to cry into his shoulder over the whole mess. He refused to do anything even when she kissed him, soaking wet from rain and thoroughly miserable. After that, he started wooing her in all sorts of sappy ways and it went from there.”

‘Oh come on!” burst out Sasuke. “How could you possibly know it was raining, or that even any of this happened! I think you’re just lying to us for fun! My parents loved each other! They did, I know it!” Naruto joined the objection. “Well yeah, and there’s no way that selfish idiot was my father, she had to have married somebody else!“

“Naruto you absolute brick, you have blonde spiky hair, the Fourth Hokage has blonde spiky hair, are you blind?”

“Seriously Sakura, there’s plenty of blonde people in this village! They were just friends and my mom wanted to give her ideas to the Hokage! Jiji said so last week, remember? All that junk about the damiyoyo not liking girls meant she had to get her ideas to work some other way! Cat-san, what’s the truth?”

They both rounded on Cat, who felt like she’d been pinned under two floodlights and a host of sensory ninja. She held up her hands in protest. “I can’t really say, honest!” She pointed up at a thin man in a mask who’d alighted on top of the Uchiha boundary wall and waved. “Oh no, what a shame, time for our shift change!” The Anbu agent shunshined out of the space so fast she left a slight ripple of displaced air. Kakashi took his time getting to his feet and stretched. “Well, it looks like as the only responsible adult here-“

“You read porn in public!” called out Mongoose from the wall. Kakashi ignored him.

“I’ll go pick up takeout if you lot get inside before it’s fully dark.” They scrambled inside as the boys continued to argue about who’s mom was in the right, if the Fourth Hokage was a selfish busybody or not, and how the Konoha elders were a bunch of tools. Sakura, by contrast, was positively glowing with delight at such a dramatic and tragic love story, thwarted by the whims of fate. Ino would be so jealous she missed this, so now it was Sakura’s turn to have juicy secrets. Kakashi grinned behind his mask and vanished in a shunshin of his own.

Up on the wall, Cat peeked up and tapped Mongoose’s leg. “Hey, you got a minute?”

The thin, hairy Anbu sat, his legs dangling above the koi pond. “Go for it, Bat’s on the other side of the house doing a perimeter check.”

Cat flipped up with the ease of a trained gymnast and let out a sigh, but was quiet for a while. They listened to the distant sound of bickering from within the house and watched the moon rise.

“Kakashi’s getting too close to this one, ‘Goose. Said I could call him by his name around the kids and takes off that mask every chance he gets. I don’t like it. It’s unprofessional, and I’m only slightly better because I haven’t broken down weeping over past tragedies yet.”

Mongoose scratched at the stubble poking out from his chin. “I’ll speak to the Hokage about it, off the record. It’s not ideal, but he’s been cheerier than I’ve ever seen him this week and compared to his usual brooding silences and constant pornography usage, it’s a breath of fresh air. I’ll take cheery, involved Hatake any day of the week over the walking dead man we had before. Besides, I get the feeling Lord Hokage suspected something like this would happen, he was awfully smug when Kakashi accepted the position of Question-Answerer and Face for this op.”

“If Danzō gets wind, he’s going to rake him over the coals, maybe dishonorably discharge him. We don’t get this job because we know how to run a daycare, we’re ruthless killers, body-buriers, and spies, for _kami’s_ sake!”

“Danzō wouldn’t notice if Kakashi dyed his hair pink, Cat. That’s the other good bit of news I wanted to tell you, our mystery Uchiha’s woken up.”

Only years of training stopped Cat from falling off the roof.

Kakashi had managed to pay for two wilting salads and a collection of meat skewers from his favorite barbecue joint and was taking his time winding through the streets of nighttime Konoha when he felt a hand land on his shoulder.

“Wonderful to see you again, my eternal rival!”

“It’s nice to see you too Guy.”

Might Guy fell into step alongside him and unsheathed his dazzling grin and Kakashi found himself smiling in return. “So how have you been spending the Springtime of your Youth lately, Kakashi? I myself have just returned from an arduous mission protecting a caravan in Grass Country. The villagers were most unyouthfully rude, but I was able to increase my training regimen so it all worked out swimmingly!”

Kakashi made a noncommittal noise through his nose. “Lots of emotion on my latest assignment, but I’ll live. Nothing too grim.”

Guy threw his arm around the other man’s shoulders, making Kakashi nearly drop the salads. “My Eternal Rival, if you ever need assistance from me, you have but to ask! I shall do my best to ensure our spirits remain high, no matter how difficult the mission.”

His rival elbowed him, which was the equivalent of a polite thank you, so Guy’s smile widened even further.

“You know Guy, you just gave me an idea for our next challenge. We each balance one of these salad bowls on our heads and try to see who can make it to the Uchiha Compound first without spilling it. If it falls, you have to catch it before it hits the ground.”

Guy gave him a thumbs up and swiped one of the bowls as Kakashi also handed over roughly half of the meat skewers. “A most worthy exercise, Kakashi. I have missed our challenges so!”

“Ready…Set…Go!”

They were off, two elite ninja speeding into the night, cackling like maniacs.

___________________________

_Inside its cage, the Kyuubi gorged itself on misery and nightmares. The first was drawn from the very stone and wood around his host, the blood-soaked ground a veritable feast of ill intent for the fox to devour. Betrayal, Vengeance, Madness, Conspiracy, Paranoia, oh yes. He could feed here for months, rebuilding his Yin Chakra, regaining his strength. This time, the boy’s nightmares were not in charcoal sketches, but images of a distant battlefield. Wait, he recognized this, the day he’d been closest to breaking free from the damned Uzumaki._

_The fox sat up, ears perked as the nightmare spooled out from the view of a nameless ninja as a woman with flowing red hair and sharp teeth slaughtered all in her path. Only once the ground was littered with corpses did she turn to the wounded Uchiha surrounded by feathers and kiss her passionately. The hand that reached out was small, and the voice, young._

_“Mom, what’s going on? Why did you do that? Did you not want us? Mom?”_

_The Fox’s smile was impossibly wide and it laughed, a deep, rolling thing that echoed around its prison and made Naruto Uzumaki roll over in vague discomfort._

**_Oh, this is rich indeed. Kushina, you lovestruck fool!_ **

_It breathed deeply, inhaling the dream as it dissolved._

**_The Uchiha have such horrible eyes, but such deliciously dark dreams, it almost makes up for Madara’s treachery. I will enjoy burning their district to the ground when I get out._ **

**_It’s only a matter of time._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this schmaltzy? YES. Is it another info dump with relevance to the story? YES. Will I be writing a fic based on this? PROBABLY. 
> 
> In case I didn't mention it, the bolded thoughts are Inner Sakura's opinions. I also really like the idea that prim little Sakura is the one who connects the dots based on a crude saying from an HBO knockoff. Sasuke's having a tumultuous couple of days here, I should really give him a break and switch to torturing Indra (Future Sasuke). I feel like I should lead with that note every chapter to remind people who Indra really is, honestly. 
> 
> My left kidney for a dating system in Naruto that makes sense and a proper timeline, like in Tolkien's Appendices, which list where Gandalf was and what date precisely when he fought the Nazgul on Weathertop a few days before Frodo and Co showed up. Yes, this happened, read the appendices for LotR. Legolas also smuggles Gimli into heaven/Undying Lands like a second-rate thief, it's glorious.  
> Might Guy is the kind of character it would be easy to overdo and yet I want to write all his sentences with exclamation points, bless him.


	13. Lie Like Crazy and Pray it Works

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra Uchiha, the secret Sasuke from the future, has finally woken up!

_Older_

The man slept for a long time, nearly a full week as Doctor Ontoba predicted, but the ANBU rotation never faltered. He’d been stripped of clothes by the hospital staff and his ninja weapons had been combed over by Ibiki. Still, even an unarmed ninja was dangerous, especially an Uchiha. Eagle had seen Mikoto Uchiha kill a bandit with her toenails when tied up, once, and the story had made the rounds of ANBU HQ years before. He remembered it now as the man opened his eyes and grumbled something indistinct.

Both ANBU in the room instantly tuned to face him, hands hovering over their weapons, but the man merely rolled away from the window and groaned as he went back to sleep. Silently, Eagle reached over and pressed the call button for Doctor Ontoba.

Internally, Sasuke knew he needed to get up. He could feel the sunlight on his back through the sheets, just as he could feel the presence of the four ANBU Black Ops members around him. Two were in the room, one standing at attention next to the door outside, and the last somewhere above him, likely on the roof of the hospital. He breathed in deeply, recognizing the antiseptic smell that smothered the earthy scent of Konoha’s great trees. Yes, definitely a hospital.

However, he’d always been slow to rise in the mornings, save in situations of imminent peril, so Sasuke sat silently beneath the sheets and reviewed what he remembered. Their plan had worked, but they’d been forced to send him instead of Naruto or even Sarada. Because they were both dead. Because he’d failed at the only real responsibility he’d ever been given: to protect his daughter and his…

Sasuke pushed those feelings into a tiny box inside his heart and locked it. He needed to think. The Otsutsuki who’d nearly killed him had somehow followed him here and The Sage of Six Paths had dragged him away, saving Sasuke’s life. He’d seen himself, a terrifyingly young version of himself who, despite training and a focus on revenge, still held baby fat in his cheeks and felt fear at the idea of death. Sasuke had told his younger self to find Naruto, but by _Amaterasu Okami_ , this was going to be confusing. He was going to have to lie a lot, and lie well, to some very smart people very shortly while on painkillers and a light fever. And despite becoming an internationally wanted terrorist, revolutionary, and Konoha’s Spymaster, Sasuke had never been very good at lying to others. He was excellent at lying to himself, but that was a different skillset, wasn’t it?

The door swung open and Sasuke rolled over to see a middle-aged man in the white scrubs of a doctor, with the black gloves that certified a medic-nin step into the room. He saw the third Anbu agent resume his post outside the door before it closed and shifted in attempt to rise, but the doctor put a hand out.

“No need to try moving around just yet, son. You’ve given me a great deal of work to do just keeping you alive. Don’t reopen any of these wounds or you’ll bleed to death in the hour.”

Sasuke raised his only remaining eyebrow to convey skepticism.

“Believe me or not, I’m still this hospital’s head medic-nin, so you’ll be cooperative unless you want to start your stint in T&I early. Or if you decide to start talking, things can be a great deal less unpleasant for everyone.”

Sasuke’s mind spun. If he was going to be interrogated that aggressively, he’d need to prioritize information and fast. What could be hidden and what couldn’t, what needed to be revealed and what was best kept to himself, who could be trusted, above all. The Yamanaka could leave him a drooling vegetable if they were given free reign even before Ibiki Morino, or whoever was in charge was unleashed with pliers and a welding torch. Early cooperation was the only thing that could work. He cleared his throat and attempted to speak.

“Who is the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf?”

The Anbu and the doctor exchanged glances as the latter chuckled slightly. “Normally I’m the one asking mental checklist questions, son. It’s Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Professor of the Hidden Leaf.”

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief and winced as he attempted to bring his arm out from the sheets. “Could one of you get me into a sitting position, please? I have much to report to Lord Hokage, and Lord Uchiha.”

One of the Anbu stepped forward, his body language offended. “We do not jump at your commands, dog. Speak your name and village, before you have the arrogance to give demands to the Anbu Black Ops!”

The doctor dragged him upright by his shoulders, displaying his nametag. _Ontoba_ it read. As he was settled into the pillows behind him Sasuke ran through his blurry, fever-hazed memories of the fight in his mind or perhaps his younger self’s mind. This was going to be a headache and a half. He mentally shrugged, he’d offered his younger self as good a name as any and depending on how one looked at it, it was even true.

“My name is Indra Uchiha. I have not been officially aligned with any village for several years, but I will swear my allegiance to the Uchiha of the Leaf if the village is proven worthy.”

At this, the Anbu dropped into battle stances as the doctor leaned back from the bed. The Anbu who had spoken before half-drew a sword before a hand from the other stopped him. “You lie! The Uchiha were wiped out last year by one of their own. There are none left!”

“What?” Sasuke let the shock show plainly on his face, though it wasn’t for the reasons they thought. To have arrived so early, but not nearly early enough…It was the height of ironies. He’d arrived too late to save the clan and too early to make the changes he’d need to, in order to save the Five Great Nations. The prospect of years spent on the run, seeking out Itachi, trying to convince Obito, to hunt down Orochimaru, Zetsu, and _kami_ knew what else. He had so much time, but…

He was brought back to reality by the doctor’s fingers snapping in front of his nose. Indra shook his head and looked back at the Anbu, who’d sheathed his sword, but kept his hand on the hilt. “I need to know everything, Monkey-san! What date is it, what year, how long Itachi Uchiha’s been gone from the village, and anything else related to this monstrosity.”

He stressed the last word, hoping to compel the recalcitrant Anbu into action, but none of them moved. Instead the glares from behind the masks intensified.

“How do you know Itachi Uchiha? Did you help him kill your own clan?”

Sasuke shook his head, wracking his brain. _Lie, lie, lie_. “I was tracking another, a rogue Uchiha long thought dead by the village and the Clan.” Deep breath, a first blind step.

“Obito Uchiha, wears a spiral mask and black robes. I saw Itachi conversing with him and trailed the former. Both found me, we fought, and I” he gestured at his body, “clearly lost.”

He glared. “Now are you going to get me someone cleared to debrief me or am I going to have to crawl to the Hokage Tower myself?”

“Did you listen to a word I said?” bellowed Ontoba. “You’re strictly confined to this bed until your wounds heal! Konoha’s blood, have you realized you lost an eye?”

Sasuke moved his hand up, only for Ontoba’s hand to grab his arm with surprising force, pushing it back to the bed. “Don’t even think about it, son. You’ve got a fever and I narrowly managed to keep your ocular nervous system from getting infected. It’s a miracle you’re still alive anyway. You’ve been out for almost a week, and by all rights should still be asleep.”

Sasuke wavered. “I’ve been out for a week?”

“Yes, and any more outbursts like this could push you right back down. I had to tie off your subclavian artery, reinforce your celiac trunk, and remove foreign chakra from your system in addition to patching your left kidney! A fever is the least of your worries and if you try anything stupid like climb out of bed, you’ll reopen both the internal and external wounds I managed to close off.” Ontoba pierced Sasuke with a gaze as sharp as Sakura’s own. “So you will not be leaving this bed or my care until _I say so_ , even if they have to wheel T&I in here one jonin at a time. Are we clear?”

Sasuke swallowed and forcibly pushed away a memory of Sakura making a similar speech to him as he lay in the Konoha hospital with a missing arm, her face narrowed in fury. “Yes sir. Crystal clear sir.”

Dr. Ontoba nodded. “Good. Then my time with you is over for today. You seem mentally sound and respond to stimuli. These fine men and women no doubt have far more pressing questions.”

He left silently, but as soon as the door closed, the two Anbu erupted into a flood of questions.

“Why are you not loyal to Konoha Village?”

“How did you discover Obito Uchiha is supposedly alive?”

“Did you aid Itachi last year?”

“Who else knows of your existence?”

“What is your relationship to the Uchiha Clan?”

“Have you ever had dealings with Orochimaru of the Sannin?”

Sasuke held up his hand, abandoning the effort to raise it to shoulder level after a deep throbbing pain tore through his pectoral muscle. He decided to gamble again. “I am only cleared to discuss my mission with Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo Shimura of The Foundation.”

He looked around. Monkey, the one who had bristled at him, now took a step back before pressing in once more, both hands clenching on the sheets.

“More lies! And poor ones at that! As I said, what is your relationship to the Uchiha Clan?!”

Sasuke did not answer, but instead directed a trickle of chakra to his eye, causing it to flash red, before the entire left side of his face felt like it had been set on fire and he cut off the flow instantly with a cry of pain. Eagle and the other Anbu, Monkey, judging by the mask, lept back in shock.

“As I said, my name is Indra Uchiha…” The photographic memory the Sharingan provided him meant Sasuke could see the Uchiha Clan lineage scroll in front of him plain as day. Time to add a branch or two. “I am a member of the Uchiha clan by blood and by ritual, though I was never entered into the Scrolls.” He allowed the silence to build before continuing. “I am the illegitimate son of Fugaku Uchiha, leader of the Clan. Lord Danzo can tell you more.” He allowed himself a small smile. Time to let the old bastard sweat, because the moment he left this bed, the leader of Root was a dead man. “Tell him ‘His arm will be restored, just as he asked.’ Now, will one of you go find the Hokage, the Head Jonin, or someone with brains and a working pair of arms? I’m exhausted, running a fever, and don’t want to forget anything.”

Sasuke closed his eyes as Monkey and Eagle had what was no doubt a furious conversation in Anbu sign language above his head. Normally he would have followed it easily, but he needed to prepare. Ironic, that he’d prepare for a Yamanaka mind interrogation by using a Yamanaka technique, but there it was. Designed to enable ninja to assume false identities, the Hidden Mind Jutsu allowed the user to compartmentalize their experiences and personality behind another false one. He’d used it once to infiltrate a Land of Wind townhouse and become the life of the party, despite his own introverted nature. The intelligence gathered had been well worth the massive headache the next morning, but the jutsu was only designed to operate for short periods of time. More in-depth sessions would be required for long-term operations, and this time-travelling catastrophe of an operation was going to be very long indeed. At least the language would be the same, but this was going to be tricky.

_My name is Sasuke Uchiha of the Leaf. I am pretending to be Indra Uchiha the Wanderer._

_My name is Sasuke Uchiha of the Leaf. I am pretending to be Indra Uchiha the Wanderer._

_My name is Indra Uchiha of the Leaf. I am pretending to be Sasuke Uchiha the Wanderer._

_My name is Indra Uchiha the Wanderer. I was pretending to be Sasuke Uchiha of the Leaf._

_My name is Indra Uchiha._

Indra opened his eyes. Indra had been a wandering mercenary, then the Uchiha’s unacknowledged Bloodline Guardian for twenty years, since his seventh birthday found him estranged from the Leaf and from the Uchiha Clan.

_Ignored and shunned as a bastard by a clan too busy with the Third Great Ninja War, he’d lived a nomadic life across the Land of Fire, encountering a cheerful, good natured Uzumaki who’d raised him, told him of the Leaf and his Clan, even as he inspired in Indra a distrust of the village system and the failures that had lead to the destruction of Uzushio. They had been set upon by both Mist hunter-nin and the Uzumaki had died to save him. The slaughter had awakened his Sharingan and started a pattern of a wandering Indra drawn into some local conflict, only to flee as those close to him died. Indra had returned to the Leaf in secret and was given the position of Bloodline Guardian to keep him out of the way, before he resumed his wandering. Then, word began to reach him of a troublesome Uchiha who kept showing up in Mist and Rain._

_From there, Indra kept his story simple, weaving in Sasuke’s memories of conflict with Itachi in the Uchiha Hideout with conflict with Obito and Taka. After some thought, he allowed his memories of cackling madness to stay. He needed an excuse to possess the Mangekeyo Sharingan and the village Elders didn’t have to know it was Eternal, now did they? The Uchiha had kept their secrets well and now that a young Sasuke was the only one left, the story of Indra’s future-seeing eye, now destroyed, left him plenty of reason to outline the threats to come. He allowed flickers of the Fourth World War, the Juubi, Kaguya and the rest of the damn Otsutsuki to remain-_

He saw Sarada, Karin, Sakura, and Naruto pinned by white arrows to the seal even as they poured chakra into it, saw his daughter curse him even as she cast him beyond anything even resembling sanity and space with the jutsu, with the love and hope that had been meant for Naruto, who had always been better than him, more worthy, someone who shone like the sun and-

He realized he was crying and that the room was silent around him. Eagle was gone and Monkey had taken off his mask to reveal a blank-eyed stare and a raised kunai.

“Those tears are proof you are not of Root.”

The simmering anger and contempt from before was gone as if it had never existed. The man was a blank slate. Despite himself Indra shivered and told himself the hospital’s air conditioning had just kicked on.

“You are a liar, likely an enemy ninja, and a threat to Lord Danzō. You should be eliminated before you can harm him. I can say you tried to kill me.”

Indra shook his head and wiped the tears away even as the small smile returned to his face.

“I am not of Root originally, but move in the same circles.” He cocked his head to the side. “You thought the Uchiha had no ways to police their own? That they had no methods of hunting down those who would attempt to steal our bloodline’s secrets? Shimura Danzō courts disaster in violating those oaths, if he has not done so already.”

“All the more reason I should kill you, to protect Lord Danzō, to keep Konoha strong!”

The man stabbed the kunai down at Indra’s chest, only for the man to kick out, sending the sheets up to entangle his legs and Monkey’s arm. The Root agent drew another kunai with his free hand which Indra ignored in favor of headbutting the man as hard as possible.

If he’d been healthier, the Root agent wouldn’t have even been able to attack, paralyzed by genjutsu. If he’d had both eyes he could have been flung against the wall by the powers of the Rinnegan, or the skeletal armor of the Susanoo. He could have switched positions with a space-time ninjutsu and stabbed the man himself. But even half-blind, weakened, missing an arm, and feverish, Indra Uchiha was a gifted shinobi.

 _Not now!_ he thought as the man skimmed the second kunai past his ear. _I’ve lost too much to be stopped now!_ Indra screamed in determination as he delivered a second headbutt that broke the man’s mask, possibly his nose, and sent him sprawling backwards onto the tile.

He realized even that short exertion had cost him. Two spots on the bandages covering his torso were already darkening with blood and he felt light-headed already. The headbutt hadn’t helped his condition, to be sure. Reaching across, he pressed the button to summon Doctor Ontoba once more.

______________________

The Hokage, as a rule, did not run anywhere except on the battlefield. A Hokage was a symbol of the village and to see the personification of the village’s strength and wisdom running, limping, or doing anything to suggest weakness was to invite swift messenger hawks to other Kage and pointed border incursions. Usually Cloud incursions, but on this day Sarutobi could not have cared less. He and Councilor Danzo moved behind Eagle in a manner that was certainly not a run, but not the dignified stride or ceremonial stroll of a Hokage either. Privately, Hiruzen conceded it might have been “power-walking”. The news that their mysterious Uchiha intruder was awake had sent both the Hokage’s office and the Jonin Standby Station into a frenzy of activity. Ibiki had been in the latter of course, and his summons was practically an alarm bell for every jonin in the building to reach out to their friends in Anbu to begin pestering them for every scrap of information.

Hiruzen and Danzō reached the hospital and strode through the doors like men thirty years younger than they were, even as they both felt their leg muscles strain slightly from the movement. They could have simply used chakra, but at their age, with the potential for a violent Uchiha to be at the end of the road, both thought it best to hold back. The Hokage cleared his throat meaningfully at the nurse. “I’d like to speak with Doctor Ontoba about the gentleman who was brought in last week.”

The nurse nodded. “of course, right this way Lord Hokage. You’ll find him in the patient’s room, apparently there was an incident.”

As they entered the elevator, both men sighed. Danzō pinched his nose. _Incident_ could mean any number of things, from an awake but frightened Uchiha to a raving mad lunatic holding the doctor hostage with his own stethoscope.

“Sarutobi, do you really think it was wise to place him in the civilian hospital rather than straight into Morino’s hands?”

“I’d like information straight from him first,” replied the Hokage shortly. “And he’ll be less likely to be honest if he wakes up in a cell instead of somewhere where he can see the tree leaves and sounds of the village. Occasionally civility and intelligence-gathering coincide, old friend.”

Danzō tapped his own covered socket. “Not in my experience.”

“Well who knows, perhaps you and this young man will get along, you’re both missing an eye and you both seem to be pains in my back this week.”

Now Danzō was grinning too. “Hopefully I still have a more dignified entrance.”

The doors opened and Hiruzen let him have the last word. The floor wasn’t deserted, but the Anbu staring at them from the other end of the hall made it plain the other patients and nurses could have been invisible for all the notice the two elders paid them. Spider had simply gone in through the third-floor window, but his voice did not radiate confidence.

“My Lords, I’m afraid there’s been a disturbance inside. He indicated you could enter but.. well, you’ll see.”

Danzō entered the room first, hands ready to wield his cane in a defensive formation, but there was no need.

“Excellent, Councilor Danzō and Lord Hokage!” said Indra Uchiha, who had Monkey’s head lodged firmly between his thighs in a chokehold. “Now I can finally release this idiot!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke's essentially tricking himself with a mind-alteration jutsu, but he's kept Indra's mental architecture and memories relatively close to his own. I'm really excited to see people's reaction to these next few chapters, they're some of my favorites I've written, mostly because it involves Indra lying his butt off to some very important people. 
> 
> Especially: Let me know if you find any discrepancies in Indra's lies that aren't obvious on his end, I've been over the chapters a few times, but like they say, it's the details that get you.
> 
> Also, Danzō is not an entirely grim bastard. He's stayed friends with the Third through multiple attempted assassinations, so there has to be something there beyond "old war buddies".


	14. Interrogation, Pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Local Uchiha accidentally makes a prophecy and a few new friends.

Monkey collapsed to the floor, gasping and clutching at his neck, which was starting to gain some nasty bruises, but Danzō only spared him the briefest of glances. The Anbu agent collected his discarded kunai and mask, slipping back to the door as Spider entered.

“Mind telling me how a one-armed, one-eyed, invalid got the drop on you?”

“I think we’d all like to hear that.” The Hokage’s voice was deep, stern, and brooked no argument. Indra Uchiha spoke first.

“I offered an explanation for my appearance in the village and this honorable Anbu agent did not believe me. When I requested for Lord Danzō to debrief me, he took it as a threat and attacked.” The man waggled his toes and attempted to pull the sheets back towards his arm, with little success. “I was able to subdue him without harm to either of us and we decided to wait for the closest authority figure to resolve our dispute.”

The Hokage nodded. “Were you in fact threatening Lord Danzō, whom, to the best of my knowledge has never mentioned you nor possessed any knowledge of your existence?”

“Not yet, Hokage-sama. As I explained to _Monkey-kun_ over there,” he accentuated the name with deep sarcasm, “I knew of his organization Root, which seeks to ensure the survival and strategic dominance of the Leaf, for it is similar to my own position within the Uchiha Clan. A silent guardian. A watchful protector of the clan. An Avenging Dark Knight, if you will.” He looked smugly at Danzō and his eyes flickered red for an instant as both older men ducked their heads. “You would dare-“ roared Danzō.

“I merely meant to illustrate the veracity of my claims, My Lords,” protested the man, who was now being held in the air by Hiruzen’s clenched fist around his hospital gown. “I plead my innocence and ask merely to tell my story.”

“You claim a great deal while attacking my Anbu and my councilor,” stated the Hokage. “A more prudent man, or a man who wished to keep his head, would be more circumspect in his actions. Especially one who has yet to even say his name.”

“On this, Hokage-sama, we can agree. My name is Indra Uchiha, bastard son of Fugaku Uchiha, Lord of the Clan. I accepted-“

He broke off as the strings holding the back of his hospital gown finally gave way and he fell back to the bed with a cry of pain. The Hokage released his grip on the garment and the one-armed Uchiha covered himself. “Apologies for the indecency Lord.”

“The apology is mine,” murmured Hiruzen. “Please, continue.”

“I had been stricken from the Clan records due to my father’s indiscretions with a captured Cloud-nin, and Fugaku never knew of my existence until much later. Rather than cause a scandal, he granted me the position of Dragon Scale, the Bloodline Guardian position long considered defunct by most of the Clan. I was to seek out those who were traitors to the clan, those whose bodies had long been unrecovered, and preserve or destroy the secrets of our bloodline they carried within them.”

The Hokage nodded. Fugaku had been a proud man as well as extremely…prolific in his younger years. He was part of the reason the Uchiha Clan’s numbers had not dwindled to nothing during the Third Ninja War, and a son from the Land of Lightning with such a history would have caused a diplomatic crisis just when the Fourth Hokage had decided to put his weight behind Konoha’s negotiations with Cloud. Yes, he could see Fugaku’s reasoning. A dangerous, unacknowledged posting for a dangerous, unacknowledged son.

“I had been wandering the Five Nations before then and resumed my position after. I found many false leads and many illegal dealings, which I burnt down on my own.”

“That seems unlikely,” interjected Danzō. “if there had been a wandering Uchiha back then, we would have heard about you. Give an example, a mission you completed to check our records.”

Indra paused and the Hokage’s gaze roved over his bandaged form. Young, from what he could see of the man’s face. Self-confident, perhaps arrogant, as many Uchiha had been. But not yet. The flippancy hid something else, some deep grief recently ripped open. The first words out of the man’s mouth had been his clan name, which indicated a deep loyalty, or a deep obsession. The Leaf Village histories had many stories of fratricide among the Uchiha…

“The Battle of Hozuki Pass, leading into Hot Springs country.” The man’s voice was confident, reciting as if from memory. “I had been travelling with several mercenaries and samurai from the Land of Iron, hunting a group of bandits who, it was whispered, had a missing-nin in their ranks. I had also heard Kakashi of the Sharingan had been sent on a rival contract from the Land of Fire to hunt the same prey and resolved to meet both objectives at once.”

“Hatake Kakashi is a valued ninja of the Leaf,” said the Hokage. “His loyalty to the village is beyond question and the Uchiha Clan themselves allowed him to retain his Sharingan. For what reason then, did you seek him out?”

Indra raised his shoulders in a shrug. “I was curious, young, excited. I wished to continue following these samurai and wanted to see someone else like me.”

Danzō spoke up, from where he had sat under the window. “There were plenty of Uchiha in the village, you could have returned at any time. There were dozens of others ‘like you’”.

“One who bears the Sharingan but who is not, officially, of the Clan. One who is looked upon with suspicion and awe in equal measure. One who is seeking the answers to their existence as they strive to protect the Leaf.” Indra’s level gaze met the councilor’s. “I suspect you too share many of these fine qualities.”

Danzo shifted his hold on his cane and Indra’s hand clenched on top of the hospital gown bunched in his lap.

“Gentlemen!” barked the Hokage. “I will not have any further foolishness in this hospital. Let me remind you it is a death sentence to bare steel in front of your Hokage.”

Indra’s gaze switched to Hiruzen. “You are not my Hokage.” He spat with real venom. “My Hokage, my daughter, my people, they’re all dead and gone, and I am here to stop the slaughter before it escalates further. It should have been either of them, but they had to send me and now I’m stuck in this damn bed while two crazed Uchiha are out there, plotting to destroy the planet!”

There was silence as Indra reined in his breath and the Elders analyzed his words. Surprisingly Danzō spoke first. “Finish your story. What did you think of Hatake Kakashi?”

At this, a new light entered Indra’s eyes, as he clearly forced away whatever dark thoughts his little speech had prompted. “Hatake Kakashi…” A fond grin spread across his face. “There’s no one like him. He is-was, rather, an impressive ninja. We’d reached the bandit camp first, but he went through the two Stone chunin like they were nothing. Used some custom Lightning-Style jutsu I’d never seen before, and it made me jealous. I always wanted to learn more from him, to hear his stories. He certainly fought like an Uchiha, no. Like one of the Kage.” He spoke the last sentence as if it was the highest honor he could bestow upon someone.

Hiruzen’s eyebrows rose. “A high assessment from seeing a man fight only once. As he still has it, I’m guessing you did not try and take his Sharingan back.”

Indra nodded seriously, though he’d never mentioned the secondary goal, but everyone in the room knew it had been on his mind. “No. He had earned it. However,” his face darkened into a scowl and the lights flickered as the electricity in the room reacted to his spiking chakra. “It turns out his donor, Obito Uchiha, has relinquished any right to carry the Sharingan for his actions after Kanabi Bridge.”

“After Kanabi Bridge?” echoed Hiruzen. “He died in a rockfall caused by Stone reinforcements, the Fourth Hokage confirmed his death.”

“Lord Danzo,” said Indra, “What is the fifth rule of special operations?”

“If there is no body, there is no confirmed kill,” recited the councilor. “Are you suggesting that a ten-year old boy survived an earth devastation jutsu performed by a dozen skilled chunin?”

“If it can be called surviving.” Indra’s voice was flat, but they could hear the recrimination in it. “He was found by Madara Uchiha, the scion of our clan, now ancient and fully mad, so the fool imprinted upon the desperate Obito his plans for all the Tailed Beasts. He would see the entire ninja system burnt to the ground to spite Hashirama and to prove the superiority of his philosophy. He died soon after, but left plans for resurrection. I have been hunting Obito ever since.”

The elders were silent as they digested this information, and Indra let them be, checking each of his wounds with his fingers. They had at least stopped visibly bleeding through the bandages.

Danzō leaned forward, both hands cupped on the head of his cane. “How is it that you discovered this, if I am to credit your story with any shred of credibility?”

Indra tapped the side of his face swathed in bandages. “I awakened the Mangekeyo Sharingan some time ago. Despite all their generations, all the blood spilled in seeking it, even the Uchiha cannot predict its manifestation, or what form it will take. Only that gaining it is,” his mouth twisted in disgust and sorrow, “unpleasant.”

“One of my Sharingan gained the ability to see the future, though not at my own discretion. It would show me many things, often far from me in distance and in time. I saw men I had yet to meet die at my hand, while others spoke of secret pacts in tea houses. Many powerful secrets that had not become secrets, or even could come to pass. For a time, I went mad.”

The man groaned, as if the loss of rational thought was a disappointing song on the radio. “I returned to myself when a dear friend brought me back by force.” He smiled, remembering, “It was an exceedingly violent reunion, but I am grateful for it. One of the Uzumaki, another clan brought to ruin by Konoha’s inaction. This is something of a pattern with you Lord Hokage, isn’t it?”

It took every ounce of his considerable willpower for Danzō to not react. The sheer cast-iron balls of this man! Clearly not a man who would be welcome in Root itself, but oh the possibilities…

The Hokage continued to stand stiffly at the head of Indra’s bed, though his knees had to be killing him. Privately, Danzō admitted that such posturing when he could’ve sat only contributed to his perceived weakness among the Kage. A sentimental fool willing to swallow any insult for the sake of peace, as the Leaf grew weaker. Indra had continued.

“I return home to discover my friend dead, my daughter impaled by a monstrosity, and the man who started it all chatting casually with the very man who your Anbu says slaughtered the rest of the Uchiha!” His voice rose to a snarl of rage, “So tell me, Hiruzen, why should I believe you when you promise safety to clans that have a tendency to keep dying on you? I rush back to this village, my only hope that I am in time to prevent catastrophe and find it has already come among my people like a wolf among sheep! You failed them, the Leaf failed them, my father failed them while a thirteen-year old child killer and a mad runaway slaughtered one of the founding clans of Konoha. Blood of the Sage, Hiruzen Sarutobi! I should be demanding answers from you!”

Danzō watched closely as the Hokage sputtered and stammered his denials. The man’s anger was real, but not dangerously so. This was the frustration of a man unable to save those he had sworn to protect. _He’s not only angry at Hiruzen, but rather, at himself._ Another lever upon which to influence this volatile Uchiha, excellent.

“Was it one of these Uchiha who attacked you before you crash-landed among our Academy students? What did they do to you?”

Indra shook his head, drawing a shaky breath as he composed himself, hand absently tying his hospital gown back on. Danzō, a fellow invalid, noticed. _So he’s been missing the arm for a good spell._

“No, something Obito brought to this land through his madness, malice, and ignorance. Older by far than the Uchiha or the Senju. I’ve seen them before in the future, with my eye. They aren’t here yet, but if we don’t act, they will come.”

“Speak plainly!” demanded Danzō, pounding his cane into the linoleum. “Timetables, personnel, supplies!”

Indra shrugged. “There will be twenty of them, but they have not seen our little world yet. They come from somewhere far beyond the Five Great Nations and the petty squabbles of villages. I would let you see, if you could trust my telling to be true.” He tapped his eye to indicate genjutsu.

“A florid turn of phrase from a former mercenary.”

“They only come when they sense the Divine Tree or the Rabbit Goddess of legend. Both are their targets, for they desire vast stores of chakra above all else.”

Both Danzo and Hiruzen stared. Indra was staring off into the distance, no longer speaking to them. His single eye was flickering, red, black, red, black.

“They seek the Tailed Beasts and their containers, as vessels for the power of a beast from beyond sanity itself. The Rabbit Goddess lost her gamble and became the Ten-Tails. Her sons sealed both into the very moon above us and sought to atone for her sins. The Sage took the one who followed me, but there may be others. I pray not, for this world, these ninja, are not ready. There is so much I need to do. The Hawk, the Raccoon, the Whirlpool, the White Snake, so, so much to do! I have years, but it’s not enough time!”

He began to laugh, a weak, broken sound. “Sarada, Uzumaki, I’m sorry! I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more time! You should be here not me! I’m not the person to deal with this!”

The Hokage’s hand landed on his shoulder firmly, with a sharp clap. The noise and the sensation appeared to draw the wounded Uchiha out of whatever fugue he’d been in. He looked up and blinked in surprise. “Hagoromo-san?”

The Hokage did not reply, but patted his shoulder. Indra kept talking.

“I don’t know if I can go through this again.”

“Indra,” the Hokage’s voice was calm and some measure of his strength passed through to the Uchiha. “What is it you desire? Death or penance?”

The question hung in the air, full of terrible potential until-

“Penance.” He whispered quietly. “I want to fix my mistakes with the Will of Fire Hashirama-san spoke of.”

“Why do you think there is no way back for you, son?”

“I’ve done so many bad things, hurt my friends, my family. I left my daughter to protect the ninja world and now she’s-“

“Have the bad things you’ve done harmed the Hidden Leaf?”

A quiet “Yes,” prompted the Hokage and Danzo to exchange a look and a series of Anbu hand signs behind his back. “Who is your loyalty to, then, if not the Leaf?” Iron, Sand?”

“No, no!” burst Indra. “My loyalty is not to the Leaf, but its people, whom I love even if I failed them, especially if I failed them.”

The Hokage squeezed Indra’s shoulder slightly and let go, which prompted the man to collapse back among the sheets and hospital gown in exhaustion. That last confession had drained him and the two men took their leave, followed by Monkey and Eagle.

“Crane” said the Hokage to the Anbu at the door. “Get that Uchiha back into bed and call the nurse, he needs those wounds looked at again.” Crane nodded and entered the room.

“So, you believe him?” asked Danzō as the entourage packed into the elevator.

“Partially,” admitted Hiruzen. “Much of what he said makes sense. His account of the Hozuki Pass matches with the mission report. There were several mercenaries among the Samurai Hatake encountered, he could easily have been one. Furthermore, his description of Obito Uchiha matches the Fourth Hokage’s description of the Masked Man who attacked Kushina and summoned the Nine-Tails. His Sharingan and his memory, if what he says is true, would be a powerful ability to have for the village.”

“If it’s true,” reminded the Councilor.

“Yes. I’d like a Yamanaka to take a look at him before the week is out. Ideally tomorrow. Give him less time to build a cover story, lets us go into details.”

“Do you want me to?” Danzō tapped his eye and the Hokage shuddered. “No thank you. He was already mentally unstable, showing him _that_ would push him over the deep end. He admitted he was the Uchiha Clan’s Bloodline Enforcer, remember?”

“All the damn Uchiha were mentally unstable,” sighed Danzō. “Just as Tobirama-sensei predicted. Now there’s a man who had foresight.”

They left the hospital and walked in silence across the busy streets, the Hokage nodding to occasional passing ninja.

“He was right though.”

“Hmm?”

“About the clans. Uzushio fell when I was a newly minted teenage Hokage and the Uzumaki have been scattered across the Five Great Nations, the Tsuchigumo fled when we withdrew our protection, the last Senju is on the run from us and gambling debts-“

“I still think you should let me bring her in.”

“Let me finish Danzō!”

The Councilor looked slightly guilty but nodded.

“So, the Senju are really gone and now, so are the Uchiha. You know I respect your positions Danzō, but the Leaf Village needs a success story, rather than a series of mitigated failures. One man or woman does not a clan make.”

“So, you wish to keep this Indra, if possible?”

The Hokage nodded. “If he proves trustworthy. Imagine Sasuke’s face when someone tells him he has a blood relative who didn’t kill his parents in front of him.”

“Your standards for ninja get lower and lower every year Hiruzen.”

The Hokage blinked. “Was that a joke, Danzō?”

The man covered in bandages turned to meet his gaze. “I am known to joke, occasionally.”

“On special occasions, only after drinking a bottle of sake.”

“You’re making me sound humorless and dour.”

“Well, we’re both old men aren’t we?”

The Hokage and his councilor moved off, each with their own plans for the Uchiha currently complaining about hospital food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Indra continues to bluff his way through tenuous negotiations. And yes, most of the Uchiha were weirdos. I mean, the closest to normal we saw was Shisui, and he was the drama queen who ripped his own eye out and handed it to Itachi before swan diving into a river. Sarada counts, but I'm keeping the Boruto canon as broad strokes at best, because every time I look over at that it's like ????. Not that Kaguya's a perfect end boss, but hey you work with what you have.
> 
> More angst from Indra, which is where most of the angst in the future will come from. I'll give Kishimoto this, it's terribly fun and easy to write angsty stuff for the Uchiha, so tell me if I go overboard.
> 
> The timeline for when exactly Uzushio kicked it is vague, so I assumed it happened early in Hiruzen's tenure as Hokage, making it less likely he would have been able to help them.


	15. Interrogation Pt 2: Maneuvering for Position Inside Your Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra's interrogation continues and we get metaphorical up in this noggin.

As the door closed behind Doctor Ontoba once more, Indra let out a sigh of relief and let the walls of his mind fall. _My name is Sasuke Uchiha of the Hidden Leaf. I am no longer pretending to be Indra Uchiha._

That had been too close by half, and it had been entirely his own fault.

Of course he invited Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō! The two people most likely to make him lose control. One was an infrequent father figure in the void of years before Sasuke had graduated from the Academy and been assigned to Team Seven. The old man had come by with pathetic attempts at conversation and small gifts alongside the paperwork. Some people would have said that some contact was better than nothing. Sasuke just thought the Third felt guilty and was assuaging it through the last Uchiha still in the village. Not that Danzō was much better. Actually, scratch that, he was worse.

Sasuke began to turn his scattered thoughts to what he’d babbled while they’d been listening. He’d fallen asleep for a second there, or perhaps Indra himself had possessed him to utter a warning to the Hokage, maybe it was simply the ramblings of a mind exhausted by all it had seen. Sasuke didn’t care. He just felt tired.

There was so much to do and he couldn’t decide which was most important.

Find Obito and chop his infuriatingly intangible head off? Yes, that was high on the list. Pain had plans, but only Obito’s carried the terrible potential of Kaguya reborn, which would in turn draw the attention of the Otsutsuki Clan.

Unless they were going to come anyway.

In his first life, and by the Gods wasn’t that a fucked up thing to think? In his first life he’d spent a great deal of time in the Mountain’s Graveyard, as well as over the border of Wind Country, studying the few Otsutsuki structures and glyphs Kaguya had left before her sons had sealed her into the damned moon.

And there was another problem, now that he thought of it. Uchiha Sasuke, one of the greatest ninja of his age, had lost his damned Rinnegan. He couldn’t remember the full text of the Uchiha Stone Tablet, just the portions his Sharingan had memorized. And that had admittedly been tainted by Black Zetsu anyway.

More worries.

Black Zetsu, Orochimaru, the time-space jutsu lurking under Uzushiogakure that could either provide another last- minute saving throw for the ninja world, or a method of unparalleled destruction. What should he pursue first? Who should he talk to?

Obviously, the most important person. Me. I should talk to myself.

Sasuke allowed another smile to cross his lips as he looked up from his lemon jell-o.

“Excuse me, Crane-san? I was wondering if you could send a message for me?”

Crane approached. True to his name he was long and wiry with muscle, but his dark brown hair tucked into a ponytail stood sharply against the porcelain of the Crane mask.

“Perhaps. Depends who it’s to and what it says.”

“Could you ask that other Uchiha kid to come see me when he has the chance? I’m afraid I landed on him rather harshly last week and never did get the chance to apologize.”

Crane’s silence spoke volumes about how unlikely that meeting was but what he said was “I’ll see what I can do.”

Sasuke nodded gratefully and leaned back into his pillows. He remembered Kakashi’s advice from decades before while he and Naruto had been lying there in Wave Country on the verge of chakra exhaustion. “Remember kids, don’t forget to stop fighting one war before you start the next one.”

 _Good advice. I’ll just go back to sleep_.

____________________________

The meeting that evening with the Council was considerably smaller than the dozens of jonin, Anbu, and Clan Heads that had been in front of the Hokage the week before. Now it was simply the ancient Councilors, Hiruzen himself, Shikaku as the Jonin Commander, and Inoichi as the head of Torture and Interrogation. Hiruzen had opened and now Danzō was finishing his own assessment of the mysterious Indra Uchiha.

“The man admitted he went temporarily insane but made no mention of relapses. However, in his attempt to show us his Sharingan as proof of his bloodline, the emotional stress of the questioning caused Indra to enter an…” the Councilor hesitated.

“An altered state. Lord Hiruzen believes this to be true prophecy, as it is vague, threatening, but mostly confusing, as prophecies often are. I believe it was indeed a warning, but this man’s psyche is deeply fractured. He may be attempting to warn us of himself, of things he’s seen, or what he’s done in the past. He admitted to harming the Leaf’s interests in the past, which as a mercenary and Bloodline Enforcer is not surprising. He may have killed Konoha-nin or interfered in missions we had been contracted to complete. Lord Hiruzen believes his desire for penance is genuine, as do I, but there may be other motives we cannot guess at. Lord Hokage and I are in agreement on the use of a Yamanaka interrogation as soon as possible, to give him less time to concoct believable lies. We would hear your thoughts.”

The old man sat back and crossed his hands over his cane once more as Inoichi rose.

“What you ask is dangerous Lord Danzo. An unstable mind, a sick mind, separately we can navigate these, but combined, they pose a distinct threat to the interrogator. We could become lost inside this Indra’s mind, caught in a logic loop or a fever dream. It is not a job I could in good conscience delegate to a less experienced member of the clan and thus we would possibly lose a highly valuable ninja.”

“But we stand to gain a highly valuable ninja as well,” pointed out Councilor Hotaru. “Even exhausted and severely wounded, he was able to subdue an Anbu agent with only his legs. Couple that with his supposed Sharingan abilities, and the Leaf would have a distinct advantage on a tactical and strategic level.”

“Assuming we cannot simply take his Sharingan ourselves.” said Danzō, but the Hokage shook his head. “I acquiesced to your usage of Shisui Uchiha’s eye after the fact and at great cost my friend. I cannot in good conscience let another Uchiha lose their eye in such a manner. On a more practical level, we don’t know if his “future sight” emanates from the eye at all. The eye may trigger it, but the ability may be unique to his brain.”

“That would explain the mental instability,” mused Hotaru.

“All the Uchiha have been unstable, how is that even a question?”

“Irrelevant” cut in Shikaku Nara. “My comrade’s point remains. Should his mind be probed, and soon?”

There were nods all around the table, but only Councilor Biwako spoke. “We appreciate your caution Yamanaka-san, but we must know more. What this man has said is simply not trustworthy.”

“Then I’ll perform the procedure myself.”

Shikaku shot him a look, but the Yamanaka was immovable. “If anyone can navigate such a mind and extract information, it will be me. I can be ready in ten minutes, but will need to be on site.”

The Hokage looked grave. “As you wish Inoichi. We’ll begin in fifteen, report to Konoha Hospital.”

___________________________

They’d been masking their chakra and their footsteps, so Sasuke was jolted from his sleep by the sound of the opening door. The Hokage entered first, robes and all, followed by his previous Anbu, Crane and Spider. The moment Sasuke saw the blonde hair, he began frantically chanting inside his head.

_My name is Sasuke Uchiha of the Leaf. I am pretending to be Indra Uchiha the Wanderer._

_My name is Sasuke Uchiha of the Leaf. I am pretending to be Indra Uchiha the Wanderer._

_My name is Indra Uchiha of-_

He was cut off as the Yamanaka locked eyes with him and instantly slapped him across the face. The shock broke the mental refrain and the constructed personality of Indra Uchiha shattered like glass.

“He was attempting a mind construct, Lord Hokage.” Inoichi’s voice was hard and uncompromising. “The SCM muscle of the neck tenses during such an exercise, I had to break the construction chain.”

The Hokage shot Sasuke a hard, unforgiving glare, and Sasuke nodded his head miserably. He’d been caught out and had to play the hand he’d been dealt. And he was only a middling poker player compared to the two shinobi opposite him. He swallowed and spoke.

“There are certain memories I would prefer you not pry into.”

“I will decide that, Indra Uchiha, if that’s who you are.”

Sasuke raised his gaze evenly, which belied the storm of emotions inside of him. “Take a look then.”

Inoichi bent to lock eyes with Sasuke and placed his callused hands on his dark hair. Sasuke felt a pulse of chakra and the hospital room exploded into stars.

_______________________

He opened his eyes, both of them, he noticed, and still saw stars. He was standing on top of a mountain, carved flat by the endless passage of wind and time. Just a few meters below, far above the snow line, there were somehow trees. Sasuke could make out a vast dark lake below in the light of the moon, but the shadows were many and his vision uncertain. He hesitantly reached up to prod at his other eye which did indeed blink and follow his finger. He hastily rearranged his hair to hide it as Inoichi Yamanaka materialized next to him out of a spray of snow particles. Both men were clad in heavy cloaks, though Sasuke’s was still a dark blue to Inoichi’s black Interrogation trenchcoat. The interrogator looked at him, appraising the man before the surroundings. Sasuke held up his arm in the universal gesture for surrender. “I meant what I said, Captain. I’ll show you what you need to know.”

Inoichi nodded, but his hand never left the space just above his shuriken pouch, even as his eyes roved over the landscape.

“You have a beautiful mind Indra Uchiha.”

The moon shivered above them but Inoichi paid it no mind. “Thank you.” Privately, Sasuke was confused. He’d expected to arrive in the endless water, now he had to walk all the way down a mountain with a too-curious-for-his-own-good Yamanaka, who was also the Clan Head? Once again, he felt way out of his depth, though his face betrayed nothing. He gestured and Inoichi followed him down the mountain.

“My name is Indra Uchiha, bastard son of Fugaku Uchiha, Lord of the Clan. I knew my clan only briefly before I was forced to leave it behind.”

Sasuke concentrated and an image floated up of a tall imposing man in Uchiha robes, standing in front of a kneeling Indra. The vast fire behind the man hid his face, but his short brown hair was clear. He had combined the memories of his first meeting with Orochimaru and his memories of the Uchiha Family Shrine, praying silently that the image was not an obvious fake, but Inoichi did not react.

“I had been stricken from the Clan records due to my father’s indiscretions with a captured Cloud-nin, and before I arrived in secret to the Leaf Village he never knew of my existence. Rather than cause a scandal, Lord Fugaku granted me the position of Dragon Scale, the Bloodline Guardian position long considered defunct by most of the Clan. I was to seek out those who were traitors to the clan, those whose bodies had long been unrecovered, and preserve or destroy the secrets of our bloodline they carried within them.”

The image changed to show Indra, a composite of his younger self, but with Madara’s long hair, racing across the landscape of the Land of Grass, then the Land of Iron. The fake Indra knelt before a younger Mifune and received a sword, the one Sasuke knew in reality had been returned to him by the Lord of the Samurai as a gift many, many years after the Hokage Summit.

Inoichi narrowed his eyes and reached out into the image. Catching hold of something, he tugged and the scene peeled away to reveal Sasuke in deep purple, carving his way through Samurai as the members of Taka followed him in dark cloaks. “Do not lie to me Indra Uchiha. You cannot. Not in here.”

Sasuke could feel the memory expand and deepen until it played out in front of them in the sky itself. He could feel the warm splash of blood against his face and hear the screams as samurai writhed under Amaterasu’s black flames. A fast explosion on the far wall as A, the Raikage of the Cloud, propelled himself towards the composite Indra. It was the only portion of the memory that was false, but Sasuke had taken his teacher’s advice to heart long ago. “A true ninja must learn to look underneath the underneath.”

Well, now he was trying to bury the truth underneath the underneath of the underneath just as much as Inoichi was trying to dig it up. The memory paused as Inoichi walked forward, circling around the frozen A. “You took on the Kage of the Land of Lightning and survived?”

Sasuke grimaced. “I ran.” He stitched together the sequence of events, omitting the portion where A sacrificed his arm to break Sasuke’s sternum into rubble. Too many questions, but the resulting melee of combat and the ghostly form of the Susanoo gave Inoichi enough to look at. The blonde paused the memory again and Sasuke grimaced as his own memory construction nearly fell from his mental fingertips, but he retained control. The image wavered imperceptibly and held.

“What is this technique you’re using? This chakra warrior around you? A summons?”

Sasuke shook his head. “A rare power of the Mangekyo Sharingan, a secret I am duty bound to only share inside the Clan.”

Inoichi studied the construct but said nothing for some time. “This black fire, this spectral warrior, can you still command these?”

The Uchiha dissolved the image and continued down the slope as Inoichi hurried to catch up. “The former, perhaps. The latter’s creation and control was a product of both my eyes, and now one is gone, the technique is lost to me. Beyond that, I am forbidden to say more.”

They had reached the trees and distant colors and shapes began to move around them. Sasuke clenched his teeth together and brought up several images at once. “I lived for some time with one of the Uzumaki Clan, deep in the Land of the Rice Paddies.” An image of Karin, older with her side cut, golden Uzumaki chains pouring from her back to ensnare something foul. “She and I were…close.”

A deliberate pause to allow Inoichi to draw his own conclusions, then a split-second flash of cave walls and discarded clothes. The incident had actually been her healing session after Orochimaru had injected him with twenty-seven toxins at once, but it was intimate enough for a quick substitution.

Slowly, painfully, he thought of his daughter. Sarada as she had been when he’d first seen her as a child, red quiapo, glasses, cheerful smile and single tomoe Sharingan. She’d been running down the road, excited to see him, and she’d stumbled into battle against more of Orochimaru’s cloned abominations, namely Shin Uchiha.

Inoichi’s eyes softened just slightly at the image of the cheerful child, but he turned back to Sasuke.

“I can feel the weight in your mind. Show me the real image, not the one you force me to see. The pain won’t kill you.”

Sasuke gave him a doubtful look and continued walking. A golden lasso of light wrapped it around his torso and flung him back into the tree, cracking it in half.

“Show me the truth!” said Inoichi sharply and Sasuke felt the light begin to sear into his clothes, his skin.

“That’s not something you need to see.” He grunted as the forest filled with the smell of cooking meat.

“Another Uchiha with the Sharingan, out in the world? I think that’s something I need to see.”

Sasuke let the images with Karin dissolve and silently apologized to his ex-wife for the deception. It had caused them all a great deal of grief in the beginning, but if Sarada looked enough like Karin to pull this deception off twice, it was an advantage he would use. There weren’t very many kunoichi with pink hair so showing an older Sakura was impossible.

“Fine.”

_The last thing he’d seen, Sarada’s face lashed with rain and wind, twisted in anger as she cursed him, cursed his absence and failure as a father. The white arrow heading for her as the seal flared into being. Naruto’s own look of horror as they both reached out…_

_The arrow hit the composite Indra in the face, then darkness._

Inoichi glanced at him, but Sasuke was riveted to the image. He reached out, then dropped his hand as the reality of the situation set in.

“She’s gone.” His voice is soft, but in the silence of the mountain Inoichi can hear him clearly. “They’re all gone, because they sent me away. It should have been any of them. They could make people _listen_ , really listen.”

He shrugs. “I’m just the spy. Seek out threats to the Clan, to the Village, to the Nations, burn them down, look for the next one. Repeat until your daughter hates you and the people you love have forgotten how to return the favor.”

He storms down the mountain now, snow flying behind him as he barely even touches the ground beneath it. It is his mind, after all. It’s not bound by gravity. Inoichi is still with him, but Sasuke knows what to do now. He throws up shards of the Fourth Great Ninja War, the charge against the Ten-Tails. Dozens of jonin and chunin from the Five Great Nations charge alongside one another into monstrosities budded off of a true abomination. Men are devoured, drained of chakra, or are dragged into the Earth to feed the roots of the Divine Tree. Inoichi tries to pause the memory, to stop and take a closer look, but Sasuke won’t let that happen. He drags Inoichi onward, through images of solitary campfires in the Deserts of Wind Country and of crowds of refugees flooding through the border to Fire Country. Despite himself, there is another flicker and the Yamanaka pounces on it. The campfire is no longer solitary. Instead the Indra composite is sharing it with the same blonde man from before. Their hands are buried in each other’s hair and beneath their clothes. Inoichi replaces the false memory and has the grace to look slightly guilty about it.

Sasuke feels his face seize in what he knows is an expression of longing, and he crushes it ruthlessly. He has to show Inoichi the most crucial part, the lie he’s been building behind all the others, the lie that will convince the jonin that Indra Uchiha can be trusted. He’s smoothed out the wrinkles, the imperfections, the mistakes. If it was any closer, he would confuse it for the true memory and then he really might go insane. He points deeper into the forest, where the trees open into a swamp, and the water sloshes around their hamstrings, soaking their cloaks and pants.

“One more.” He says and his voice sounds as shaky as he feels. He takes a deep breath as Inoichi nods. Keep it together Sasuke, you can do this.

The last memories are the hardest because they are so close to the truth. The Uchiha Clan Hideout, his horror as Itachi explained the Mangekeyo Sharingan, the revelation that Madara Uchiha was alive. He cut the memory off once Itachi’s Susanoo manifested and it was clear the man had survived a bolt of lightning. Sasuke sat down in the marsh, holding his head in his hands. All he’d changed was his face and the name Itachi had shouted at him and even then, the memories still cut deep.

Inoichi was leaning against a tree, the gold light connecting him and Sasuke gone. He too was in shock.

“Madara Uchiha…That’s not possible. He’s long dead.”

Sasuke didn’t reply, so Inoichi looked down. The Uchiha was massaging his temples but otherwise did not respond. Standard T&I protocol was to wrench the man up and keep marching, but Inoichi’d had enough of the guided tour anyway. He continued through the swamp, moving through the trees when he could, walking through the water when he didn’t. Images continued to flicker in front of him, none lasting more than an instant or two.

_A snake-eyed man in glasses and a hooded robe._

_All Four Hokage standing in a line, covered in ash._

_A blade protruding from Indra’s chest as he gasped weakly._

_A black, fluid substance that walked like a man and spoke of centuries of planning._

_A pale man with purple eyes erupting into a mass of tumors, which in turn burst to reveal…_

_A woman as pale as the moon, with the pale eyes he’d seen among the Hyuga, but a cherry red ringed thing in the center of her forehead. A lid closed over it and he realized it was an eye. She turned to look at him and the image shattered._

He dropped out of the tree in surprise but managed to stick the landing. Indra was leaning against the tree and walked over as Inoichi looked up at him.

“Did she really-“

“She saw you” said Sasuke, his eye glowing the red of the Sharingan.

“I don’t know why or how, but she did. Her blasted Clan keep surprising us.”

“There are more?” The power he’d felt, the insanity, even for an instant, was staggering. Clearly beyond his own, perhaps even beyond that of the Hokage.

“Many more.” Sasuke tapped the side of his head where his missing eye would be. That’s why I came, why I needed to warn you. This devastation is what is coming, if I can’t stop it.” He spread his hands to indicate the vast sea of stars above them. “There is so much I need to do, and I can’t do it alone. My dear Uzumaki would have been far better at this, but I have to ask, will you help me?”

Inoichi shook his head. “That’s not my decision to make. And this interrogation is not done yet.” He pointed into the distance, where the trees thinned out. Moonlight shone down on the vast lake they’d seen from the top of the mountain and as they walked it soon became difficult to see if there had ever been a mountain, or a forest, or memories there at all.

Inoichi cracked his knuckles and grinned as the glowing light he emitted pulsed around him. “Now we get to the best part.”

Sasuke looked ahead and saw five versions of himself, their backs to him, standing in front of a pillar of moonlight. _Got to change the faces before they turn,_ he thought, but even as he thought it, they turned to face him.

The smallest wore Sarada’s image, at ten years old, sobbing as she tried to stop the tears on her face. Inoichi waved but the girl dissolved into the water as he moved forward. The second figure, a dark-skinned, bat-winged version of Indra looked up with hunger in his eyes.

“More power,” he growled. “Give me more..power!” A clawed hand reached towards Inoichi and the jonin batted it away. The figure rose to its full height, lightning chakra tinged with dark energy running across its forearms until a blade erupted from its chest.

The third figure, dressed in purple and tied around the waist with a bow, removed its sword and bowed deeply to Inoichi, conveying deep respect. “You’re nearly there.” He said calmly as he held up a picture of a very specific bridge. Suddenly he, and the picture were consumed in flames as an identical man stepped forward. Or at least, he would have been identical if not for the visible madness distorting his features. His lips stretched upward in a parody of mirth and the cackle of deep insanity echoed from his chest as he clawed at his empty, bleeding eye sockets again and again. “Liars! Liars, Liars, Traitors, Thieves! You’re so far from the truth you can’t see anything! Madara showed me! Danzo showed me! Itachi tried to show me, but he failed! A village that kills its own people, that ruins lives again and again, all in the name of peace and strength, is built on LIES!” He all but howled the last word and the vast spectral warrior Inoichi had seen before exploded into being around them, fist driving down at Inoichi as he fell onto the surface of the water. The golden light around him coalesced but it wasn’t fast enough…

Two Indras, identical in dark blue cloaks and long, dark hair, stepped in front of him and the chakra construct dissolved like mist in the morning sun. They stepped forward and flowed into one another, combining until only one Indra remained. He lent down and Inoichi took the offered hand gratefully.

“I was…well, it would be a lie to say I was not myself for a very long time. I was what the shinobi system made me, a font of hatred and power that only had to be directed until it had exhausted its usefulness. I do not and will never apologize for my past actions against the Leaf, for some wrongs are grievous enough there can be no restitution. Rather, I want to focus on doing what I have not done.”

He looked at the spot where Sarada had dissolved, regret passing across his features. “As I said to the Hokage, I am not loyal to the Leaf village, but its people. The Leaf Village as a whole allowed my Clan to be isolated, insulted, and drove them to slaughter, and never looked back.”

Indra’s Sharingan pulsed, and Inoichi felt a genjutsu take hold, even as he cracked his chakra to fight it off. “Kai!”

“Not yet Inoichi-san” said Indra. “One last thing for your eyes to see.”

The Hokage’s private quarters rose around them, triptych wall scrolls, deep oak doors, and a single candle. Councilor Danzō stood next to the Hokage at his writing desk as Itachi Uchiha knelt in front of them both.

“There is no other recourse, then?” Danzō shook his head. “None, Hiruzen.”

The Hokage sighed and scrawled his signature across a piece of paper. “Go, then Itachi Uchiha. Do what you must.”

Itachi hesitated for a moment, then his eyes hardened. “It will be done, my Lord.”

As he vanished with a swirl of leaves, Indra beckoned Inoichi forward, his face grim.

**Operation Firebreak: Uchiha Extermination**

**S+ Rank**

**Client: Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shinimura Danzō, Leaf Village.**

**Parameters: Uchiha District, Leaf Village.**

**Objective: Elimination of all Uchiha Clan Hostiles.**

**Secondary Objectives: Preserve children under the age of ten. Use notoriety to gain access to Akatsuki organization and report purpose and membership.**

**Acceptable Casualties: Total Elimination.**

**Payment: Uchiha Sasuke survives. His Root application will be terminated upon completion of the mission.**

**Extraction Site: The Southern Gate of the Leaf Village will remain unguarded from 11:00 PM-12:00PM.**

**Duration: Permanent.**

Inoichi dropped the sheet, which burned as soon as it left his hands. The flickering embers did nothing to illuminate the darkness around him and only made the moonlight seem stronger. The Hokage’s office fell away and Indra stood patiently where Itachi had knelt, looking back at him.

“You can believe that or not, I don’t really care, Inoichi Yamanaka. You’ve seen all there is to see, now make your judgements.”

The T&I jonin looked back calmly, though his heart felt like it was jackhammering against his ribcage. “You tried to lie to me multiple times and have a past history of mental instability. I couldn’t see all the seams, but I can feel when someone lies to me, Indra Uchiha.” He crossed his arms.

“You haven’t told me everything.”

“Nor will I. The future I have seen is a dangerous thing, especially when someone tries to alter it. If it is to protect the people I love most in this village, I will lie without hesitation and you will have to rip my mind apart until it is a drooling vegetable to get at the truth.”

Inoichi let the golden light of his influence shine brighter and brighter in the space until the moon, the water, and even the stars reflected back the focused power of a Yamanaka mind. Sasuke felt the vast tide of a lifetime of memories begin to slip from his grasp, falling into the waiting hands of the man ready to decipher each one.

“You know no one in this village, because no one knows you. Desperation makes you an even worse liar, Uchiha-san. The Hokage would never order such an atrocity, it goes against every fibre of his being.”

Sasuke thought for a moment and remembered his Naruto, blazing with power in the crumbling remains of Konoha. _This village is my home, and everyone here is my family. I won’t let you have your way with us_.

“Believe what you wish, Yamanaka. As I said, I have shown you what you need to know. You’re a specialist jonin, working for the Torture and Interrogation Division. Some things are always ‘need-to-know’ But this village is where my remaining family is, which means to me, it is now my home. That means more than any secrets I could or could not give you.”

Inoichi glowered and Sasuke felt the first true memory balance on the edge of his control. If one fell, Inoichi would see the source, and then he’d see everything. “Please.”

For an instant of heart-stopping terror he thought Inoichi would keep pushing, but the jonin nodded and the golden light dimmed. “You keep a great many secrets next to your lies, Uchiha-san,” he said as his hands twisted into the signs necessary to release the jutsu. “Just pray none of them get confused.”

_________________________

In the dimly-lit hospital room, Inoichi took his hands from Sasuke, who glanced over at the Hokage. The man was smoking his pipe next to the window, while Crane and Spider lurked in the corners. Inoichi spoke first.

“How long?”

Spider lifted a wrist to reveal a slim watch. “Two hours, sixteen minutes, twelve seconds, sir.”

The Yamanaka nodded. “Acceptable. His mind wasn’t as difficult to navigate as I had feared.”

“And your verdict?” The Hokage remained focused on the Konoha treeline outside.

Inoichi looked at Indra, who’s mouth was set in a thin line. He was going to regret this.

“Indra Uchiha is reasonably trustworthy.” He admitted as the Hokage turned to face them. “He lied repeatedly but only on matters of personal and reasonably private significance. The threats he mentioned to your Lordship and Councilor Danzō are indeed real.”

Indra’s mouth fell open as the Yamanaka continued. “He has a self-confessed history of psychological instability, which I believe resulted from a difficult upbringing and the likely death or forced abandonment of his family.”

Crane shifted uncomfortably. “Should we really-“

Inoichi cut him off. “His conduct within his own mind demonstrates a regard for the well-being of his interrogator as well as a regard for individuals within the Leaf Village. He has admitted to distrust of the shinobi system and blames the inaction of the village for the death of the Uchiha.”

“This all sounds like someone who should be put in a very deep, dark cell, Yamanaka-san,” said Eagle. “Did he rip out the part of your brain that knows who to trust?”

“No, Eagle-san. His conduct is egregious, but I believe in his desire to aid the citizens of the Leaf. Additionally, his memories and actions demonstrate progression from these beliefs and an ability to mollify or eliminate his worst instincts. In light of his history, I would recommend inducting him as a ninja and citizen of Konohagakure, as well as a place within the Uchiha Clan. In summation I believe that Indra Uchiha falls well within the mental operating parameters for a shinobi of Konoha. However,” he warned with a grin.

“I expect him to make a run for your hat at some point Sarutobi.”

The Hokage smiled, pleased for once to have his instincts confirmed instead of his worst fears.

“Finally, a bit of good news. Now, you just rest up and, in a month, or so, you should be cleared to leave the hospital.”

Sasuke's shock turned to horror.

“A MONTH!?”

Sarutobi grunted in amusement around his pipe. “Willing to jump out of bed for missions, you’re already halfway to being a Konoha shinobi. Stay in that bed and you might even have some visitors, hmm?”

Indra looked around the room, but there was only shared amusement from Inoichi and silence from the Anbu. “Fine. Can one of you pass me a magazine or something?” He gestured at the moonlit night outside. “I won’t be sleeping anytime soon.”

The Hokage nodded and made his way out the door, followed by the Anbu. Inoichi lingered.

“I know what you’re going to ask.”

“Why-“

“Because my son was taken by Root too” said the jonin quietly. “You lied when you could, hid as many faces as possible, but the details were true. The feelings were true.”

He looked Sasuke in the face once more even as Crane looked back questioningly.

“You want to help, so I’m going to let you. Just don’t start a revolution before my pension kicks in.”

He filed out as Sasuke was still processing that last statement. When the door closed, Sasuke flopped back onto his pillows. Bringing his hand up to his remaining eye, Sasuke began the same fingertip exercises he’d used when he lost his arm years earlier, in a very different Konoha.

Thumb, index, middle, ring, little finger. Thumb, index, middle, ring, little finger. Thumb, index…

It was going to be a long night.

Inoichi Yamanaka had been taught the Mind Invasion Jutsu by his father and had studied it further in the Yamanaka Clan Scrolls. The warnings had been many, and they had been very specific. Afterwards it recommended a low sensory diet of rice, beans, and water to minimize disorientation. Absolutely no mind-altering substances or alcohol.

Inoichi went to a bar and drank himself under the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this could easily be Narm, or just overly prosaic, but mental interrogation is always an opportunity for abstract metaphor and symbolism, so I indulged myself. 
> 
> Note: He's addressed as Sasuke when he's the narrator, and addressed as Indra when Inoichi is looking at him. Let me know if things aren't clear, this should be the only time this kind of switching happens because he'll be Indra 99% of the time from now on.


	16. Priorities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra makes some long-term decisions and Naruto gets by with a little help from his friends.

After nagging Crane and his successor, Cricket, Indra Uchiha had been allowed a pen and a stack of paper to write down as much actionable intelligence as possible. Inoichi had entered the room and set up his own desk in the darkest part of the room and a simple nod towards his former subject. They passed papers back and forth, but neither spoke, preferring the businesslike silence of the hospital. Every few hours Doctor Ontoba would enter, change out Indra’s IV and chakra drips and glare suspiciously at both men. The roughhousing of his patient had set back the man’s recovery by a week at least and the doctor had made Indra swear upon the graves of his ancestors to remain in bed until he was discharged. While most ninja routinely disregarded doctor’s orders at any given opportunity, Indra stayed put. To be blunt, he remained in pain, even as the localized painkillers turned a throbbing chest into a dull ache as stitches and chakra slowly mended the wounds inflicted by the mysterious white arrowheads. The arrows and their owner had all vanished with no trace, along with Hagoromo and this unsettled Indra to a great degree. To all intents and purposes the Otsutsuki and their descendants, the Sage chief among them, had been worshipped as gods or extended into the realms of myth. The idea that any of them could come hurtling out of the sky or into his own mind would drive even a stable man to paranoia.

At the moment, Indra was not an entirely stable man and everyone in the hospital room knew it. He tried very hard to not focus on the things that caused him pain, burying himself in recalling every scrap of information on Orochimaru’s Village Hidden in the Sound, the personnel, the missions he’d been on, the Sannin’s goals, both temporary and long-term.

While the ninja had mellowed significantly after the Fourth Great Ninja War, Indra had only left the man alive out of pragmatism and a sneaking suspicion that he might one day be Konoha’s ace in the hole. This had proven true when the Otsutsuki came, for Sound alone took out two of the beings by burying them under twisted summons, half-human clones of Orochimaru, and Curse-Marked orphans of war. It had led to the annihilation of the Land of Rice Paddies in addition to the Sound Village itself, but it had bought the Shinobi Alliance time to muster around the border of the Land of Fire. In the wars to come, Orochimaru would be and had proven himself useful. Indra had puzzled over what tense he should use when writing reports for Inoichi or whoever was reading these (he suspected the entire Konoha Council) but ultimately settled for the future tense. After all to Indra and to the rest of the Five Kage, none of these things had happened yet nor, Amaterasu willing, would they. These were all the rational, logical arguments that Naruto, as the Hokage, had proposed after the War and they sprang up again in Indra’s head now. His emotional response was quite different.

The emotional side of Indra Uchiha, the part that was mostly Sasuke, felt like chopping Orochimaru into pieces, burning them, then throwing those pieces into Kaguya’s acid dimension was too good for the monster. He’d lived under Orochimaru’s thumb for three years and even now, decades later, he could still remember the smooth warmth of the man’s skin as he ran a hand across Sasuke’s cheek, or every snide, approving comment. For once, the cold of the hospital had nothing to do with his shiver.

Those three years had been an exercise in contradiction. Train hard every day, but hide his true strength as much as possible. How hard he could hit, how fast he could run, how much chakra he could gather, all had to be hidden from anyone with a note on their headband. Every sliver of experience he managed to gain made the day of his reckoning come ever closer, the day Orochimaru would try to steal his body. He’d seen what had happened to other unfortunates, helped Kabuto drag their husks to the incinerator, or the kennels. He would try not to make eye contact with the medic-nin or the empty eye sockets of the corpse because he’d never been sure which ones were more devoid of humanity. Kabuto himself had been playing the same game of course, but he’d been better at it, had done it for longer. Some members of the Sound thought Kabuto was exempt from possession because he was too useful to Orochimaru alive. Others thought the silver-haired ninja was tolerated as Orochimaru’s little joke, a pet that carried the potential to sting its master at any point, an incentive for the snake to stay aware. The test subjects just thought they were both the same sort of diseased, destructive doctors that cut and stitched and added and subtracted until their names, Clans, and identities were gone.

Sasuke had been one of those test subjects, on occasion. As Orochimaru’s “Perfect Vessel”, he’d avoided the worst of it, the scalpels, the full replacement of what he’d been born with. But Orochimaru wasn’t above a few “additions” as he’d so harmlessly called them. Two weeks strapped to a gurney as endless samples of venom were pumped through his veins, often in combination. He’d thrashed, gibbered, nearly bit his tongue off, and begged for death by the first Sunday. Of course, that wish had not been granted and he’d endured another seven days of bites, injections, and vile drinks forced down his throat via funnel. Ironically, that had been how he’d first met Karin.

She would later tell him of their brief encounter in the Chunin Exams, but Sasuke’s first lasting impression of her was a brusque, no-nonsense woman with familiar chakra and vivid red hair. She’d fed him portions of her chakra while grumbling about other members of the Sound Village. These complaints weren’t directed at him, she didn’t even know who he was, just another test subject, but to him it was a lifeline. Those complaints reminded him there was something other than tests, pain, and a desire to survive in Otogakure. People had lives here. He could have a life here, if he survived.

Orochimaru had been a part of that life, for good and ill. For every grueling experiment he’d participated in, there had been a new lesson as well. Personal kenjutsu lessons from Orochimaru himself, a master of the art. The gift of the Snake Summoning Contract, on his fifteenth birthday, offered with what seemed to be genuine pleasure. The shuriken storage tattoos on his wrists that had aided him against Itachi, a devilishly complicated bit of sealing jutsu he never would have accomplished on his own. Tutelage on the uses of his Curse Mark. A rare bottle of wine from the Land of Fire on the second anniversary of his arrival in the Sound Village.

None of it had been wholly altruistic, and every gift had been to prepare him to kill Itachi or become Orochimaru’s new body. Indra knew the snake had been a monster, but he had been a monster still trying to reach out, after Orochimaru had torn out every shred of empathy the Sannin had ever possessed, a monster of his own creation. Even after everything, Indra still felt a thread of…something. Not sympathy, but perhaps kinship. Recognition. Of how deeply he could have fallen if Naruto hadn’t reached deep into that darkness and dragged him back out by the scruff of his neck.

When Sasuke officially met Karin later on, dealing with a prison break in the Southern Compound, he hadn’t been sure what to make of her, but he remembered that chakra and that hair. In the corner of a list of Sound members, he scribbled: “Unite Uzumaki.” It was small compensation for betraying Naruto repeatedly, stabbing Karin, and leaving them both to die in a world ruined by war. The least he could do was give them a family back.

That started him on a roll. Every member of the Sound had come from somewhere, for Orochimaru had made a point of collecting the powerful, the strange, and the curious from across the Small and Great Nations. Some of them like Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo, had stayed in touch with him and he considered friends. Others, such as Orochimaru himself, Kabuto, and the few, psychotic pretenders to the titles of Sound Ninja Five, he’d always regarded as dangerous enemies. Most were simply victims of circumstance. Missing-nin who needed somewhere to hang their hats, earn money, and hide from former comrades. Civilians from the Land of Rice Paddies who sought protection or trading opportunities, only to find that the Otokage had use for them as well. Both security and trade were allowed, but always with a cost.

Sasuke remembered one such cost. _A merchant’s daughter had gotten involved with one of the chunin under his command and it hadn’t ended well. She had fled with the child and the chunin followed them both to the Land of Grass to retrieve her. Sasuke had been sent to retrieve the man and his family, with instructions to_ -

Indra shook himself out of Sasuke’s memories and focused on the paper in front of him. He’d written the man’s name, Rouken Satabo, originally from the Sand village. He had no idea if the man was even a missing-nin yet. He’d been older than Sasuke, but had treated him with respect. It led to the same question he’d been struggling with all afternoon: Allow the Village Hidden in the Sound as well as Orochimaru to continue, or burn it to the ground at the first possible opportunity?

He knew where many of the bases were, who would eventually guard them. The idea of Otogakure as Orochimaru marketed it, a place for the outcast, the misanthropic, and the forgotten to band together and survive. Under Orochimaru’s leadership, they often did not. A culture of fear mixed with mercenary loyalty and force allowed Sound to exist under the radar, taking contracts the established ninja villages either didn’t notice or couldn’t be associated with. He’d freed the prisoners and burnt it down the first time, only for the village to spring back up alongside Orochimaru. Could the Leaf intervene early enough to change its character? Should it? Could Orochimaru be changed? Could anything in this time?

Sasuke’s cynical side didn’t think so. Indra clung to the idea as if it was a life raft. Indra tended to sound a lot like Naruto Uzumaki in his head, really.

Indra crumpled up the page of personnel he’d drafted and let it fall to the floor and started a new page.

_The Village Hidden in the Sound:_

  1. _Save Taka, reunite Uzumaki._
  2. _Kill Kabuto_
  3. _Orochimaru?_
  4. _Destroy all evidence of the Reanimation Technique._
  5. _The Land of Rice Paddies or the Hidden Village?_



Once he’d recovered, Sound would be the best starting point. Make nice with the Leaf Village by bringing in or killing one of their most prominent missing-nin, building alliances with members of other nations, even if they were missing-nin, and most importantly burning every scrap of information on the Second Hokage’s damned Reanimation Jutsu to smithereens.

If the Fourth Great Ninja War had proven anything, it was that Tobirama’s techniques were often far more trouble than they were worth. 65,000 dead shinobi from the allied nations and a revived Madara were complications Indra intended to remove as early as possible. Sasuke had been impaled by his ancestor and had no desire to repeat the experience. If he had his way, the scrolls on the jutsu within the Leaf would be destroyed as well, but first things first.

Indra set the pen aside and closed his eye in frustration. His handwriting was still shaky, but that was why he’d asked for so much paper. Testing his new limits was important and he wanted to be ready for action the moment the medic-nin cleared him for duty. The Sharingan helped, but it was a drain on his chakra, and even with a week’s rest, he didn’t feel comfortable using that much just to write legibly. So practice it was.

Begrudgingly, he wondered if he’d need glasses when the door blasted open.

_Younger, seven minutes earlier._

Once again, Sasuke silently thanked Naruto for his singular, never-to-be-repeated stroke of genius. He’d heard people call him a genius, with everything it implied after Him, but Sakura was the real thing. She’d memorized their entire textbook and could repeat it whenever Naruto had difficulty with what the teachers were discussing, which was frequently. He was smart, but these genjutsu principals were simply beyond him.

Focus? Sure he could focus. He’d been focused on a singular goal for the past year and a half.

Space construction? Difficult, but possible. He just had to imagine a room or an environment he’d been in enough times to remember the little details. Mitsuki-sensei loved to stress how important the details were to a good genjutsu.

But populating that space WHILE maintaining it? Nearly impossible. Ino could do it, but she was a Yamanaka, that was almost expected. She’d likely been getting training from her clan, the best in Konoha at jutsu involving the mind. Sasuke could hold the space in his mind, he could imagine objects within his mind like kunai or shuriken, but holding both in his mind as he moved through the space himself and interacted with it? Infuriating.

Sakura had mastered the genjutsu on her second attempt and was speaking animatedly with Shikamaru on the necessary level of detail when entrapping chunin compared to a genin. Sasuke still had trouble picking up a kunai inside his own genjutsu, and Naruto was hopeless.

Two weeks ago he would have smirked at the blonde, either openly or from behind his hands, and focused on methods solely to improve his own jutsu. Now he approached his friend.

“Hey, Naruto?” he asked the frowning Uzumaki.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Falling behind already? You just keep closing your eyes and looking vaguely sick.”

Naruto gave him a brief glare before shrugging and leaning back in his chair. “The basic part, my surroundings. I keep trying to imagine my apartment or your dojo, but I keep thinking about something else.”

Sasuke nodded and pulled Naruto’s notebook over towards him. “Ok, so how are you imagining it? I tried just holding all of my house in my head, but that didn’t work. Just focus on one thing, like your bed, or the floor, then add one thing at a time until you have a room.” He looked around. “Actually, maybe we should just use the classroom. We’re right here, even an idiot like you should be able to remember what’s right in front of you.

Naruto smiled. “That’s worth a shot.” They both looked over at Sakura, who’d wandered closer and had apparently put Choji under the genjutsu as he tried to break out of it. “Maybe we should ask her?”

Sasuke shook his head, pride and pragmatism warring inside his skull. “No way, we’ve got to give it one more shot, together.” His classmate nodded and as one, they both closed their eyes, made the sign of the Crane, and imagined their rooms.

 _The floor of the living room_. He always started there. He wiped away the bodies, the blood, the brother standing in the shadows, the tears in the rice paper. _The walls, the half-open sliding door, the moonlight shining in through the window, the shadows on top of the floor. The hallway beyond the door, His room, my room, the entrance._ The house expanded in his mind as if he was walking down its corridors. _The kitchen, Mother and Father’s room, Father’s study, the front door._ He exhaled. He’d finished the house, now to add items inside. _A kunai, a stack of shuriken, Cat’s pile of bamboo sticks._ He thought for a moment. _Let’s see if I can make Cat-san as well._ A humanoid shape formed, the Cat mask clearly defined and in sharp relief. Purple hair spilled out behind the mask, and her armor had the same steely grey texture it always had. But something about her stance was off…

He opened his eyes. It was her pose. He’d had her standing straight, arms at her sides, in the most formal parade ground position he could think of, how all ninja were supposed to present themselves before the Hokage. But it wasn’t how she stood. He closed his eyes to find the house slightly blurry, the details sharpening as he renewed his concentration. The Cat in front of him brought one hand up to rest on her hip, while the other splayed its fingers slightly. He broke the illusion in his excitement at the realization.

 _She spreads her fingers to grab her kunai at any moment, and keeps a hand at her hip to draw her sword!_ He grinned, pleased that he’d deciphered the Anbu’s movements and that he’d been able to add them to the illusion. Beside him, Naruto was not having the same luck. He kept opening and closing his eyes as he tried to take in everything around him, head constantly turning to take in details. He met Sasuke’s eyes and glared, though the look was tempered by the flush of embarrassment. Sasuke met the look with one of his own, trying to convey the confidence he now felt flowing though him as a result of his latest success.

“Look, what’s the most basic thing, what do you start imagining first?”

“The desks, right?”

“Just floating? Too strange for your mind, start with the floor, then the walls. You’ve gotta build a space for everything else to exist in, otherwise it’s too weird for your mind to visualize.”

“You sound like Mitsuki-sensei.”

“You would too, if you’d listen for once.”

Their bickering was cut off by the sound of the classroom door slamming open, admitting a harried-looking chunin in dark goggles.

“Uchiha Sasuke?”

The class fell silent instantly, heads turning to look in his direction. Sasuke wanted to shrivel into the ground, but Naruto’s presence had him straighten his stance and raise his hand.

“Here. What’s going on?”

The class swiveled back to the chunin, even Mitsuki-sensei looking curious.

“You’ve been summoned to the hospital, Uchiha-san. Your-“ he paused, feeling the weight of his sentence, “Uncle is awake and has asked for you to see him.”

Sasuke’s mind raced as he stared blankly at the chunin. He’d been asked for by name, which meant the intruder knew his identity, which meant his dream had been real, or at least not entirely fake. Time to test the waters.

“Does this Uncle have a name?”

He’d expected his voice to waver or sound as young as he felt, but it came out calm and smooth, the voice of someone who was in control, which he very much did not feel. The chunin fiddled with his glasses and pulled out a scroll from one breast pocket. Mitsuki-sensei tried to peek surreptitiously at it, only to be silenced by the giggles from the class and a glare from the nameless chunin.

“Uh..he called himself Indra Uchiha, if that name means anything.”

Eyes shot back to Sasuke, who turned and looked at Naruto.

“You wanna come with? Whoever he is, he knew enough to mention you by name.”

Whispers redoubled and even Mitsuki-sensei looked interested. A mysterious Uchiha knowing the name of the village’s most troublesome brat? Curiouser and curiouser.

Naruto nodded. “Sure thing. I was gonna back you up even if you didn’t ask, y’know?”

Sasuke fought to keep a smile of relief from breaking across his face, but the corners of his mouth did twitch upwards. “Good. Let’s go. Sorry Mitsuki-sensei.”

The teacher waved them off.

“Look, I get it, I’m a chunin. When you’re summoned, you’re summoned. No worries. And on that note,” he turned to the class, “Now our genjutsu lesson is well and truly ruined, let’s go over what little I’m permitted to tell you about summoning, now that I know none of you will remember a word I say this afternoon.”

There were collective groans as Sasuke and Naruto grabbed their bags and moved to the front of the class.

“Settle down, settle down! Rest assured, I’m just as curious to hear what’s going to happen as you are, but we can’t march the whole class over to the hospital, can we?”

“Why not?” piped up Sakura, eyes blazing as the boys were ushered out of the room without her. “It’s a matter of public interest, right? We can make it an educational field trip on the effectiveness of medical ninja?”

Mitsuki opened his mouth to object then paused as Ino did something with her hands from the other side of the classroom.

“Well…” he said slowly, “I suppose it’s not the worst idea in the world.”

The chunin grabbed Naruto and Sasuke by the scruff of their necks and ran. To his credit, they made it out the front door of the Academy before the class surged after them.

Sasuke had never run so fast in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I've messed up the ages/timelines, and that at this point, Kakashi really should already be a jonin instructor failing genin teams, but oh well. I'm too far it to turn back now. Figures, I have four pages worth of charts and outlines for character development and plot, but pinning down what happened when in the original timeline is such a pain.


	17. Questioning Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra and Sasuke finally meet in person.

Indra knew there were numerous levels of security around his hospital room, from the physical presence of four ANBU agents, to the sealing formulae around the doors and windows he pretended to ignore, to the commanding presence of Doctor Ontoba, whose orders Sasuke was reluctantly following. The man had held him down effortlessly the previous evening to administer a sedative after a discussion about the Akatsuki had gotten him riled up cursing Zetsu at the top of his lungs.

So Indra was still fighting off the aftereffects of the drug when the door burst open and he was bowled over by a chunin Aburame covered in sweat and two small, screaming children. At least, that was the excuse he would abide by until the end of his days.

The chunin managed to say “Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto to see you-“ before Crane and Beetle were overwhelmed by two dozen other noisy children, cheering and babbling excitedly at the top of their lungs. Indra scrambled back into his pillows, thrashing about wildly with his single arm.

“Wow, a real Anbu!”

“So is it true, are you really an Uchiha?”

“Are you a Cloud assassin?”

“What’s your real name?”

“Are you dangerous?”

“How many limbs have you lost? My dad says most ninja lose one.”

“Did the Sage send you?”

“How’d you get here?”

Indra covered his ears as best he could, shoving his head into the curl of his bicep as his eyes roved hungrily over the faces crowding around the bed, even as the Anbu and a bewildered-looking teacher with silver hair bodily carried out two students at a time. The questions were irrelevant, what was important were the faces.

To see his colleagues, his friends as children, with open faces and excited grins… _He’d seen Ino grim-faced as she pulled the memories from a gibbering refugee’s mind and order troop movements as her subject collapsed to the floor. He’d seen Shino unleash custom-bred beetles that devoured a battleship off the coast of Kubraka Island, and Kiba rip an ear off a rebellious Stone Jonin to make a point_. To see them now, curious, young, and carefree, wasn’t just strange, it made him question the last thirty years of his life, memories of peace, struggle, and grim apocalypse alike when faced with memories he’d idealized so much he’d been sure half of it was Naruto’s own rose-tinted nostalgia bleeding into his own recollections. But no.

They were just as happy, curious, and cheery as he remembered. Half of him wanted to smile, the other half wanted to puke. Despite his best efforts, he could feel the gorge rising in his throat and wildly motioned at those unfortunates clustered around the right side of the bed. Eagle, Sage bless him, realized what Indra meant first and scooped an endangered child out of the line of fire.

The bowl he was aiming for received most of the vomit, but the intelligence report on the Deidara of Hidden Stone was ruined, which was just as well. As Indra gagged and slumped over the side of the bed, the children scattered. Nothing like an accidental fluid expulsion to scare off civilians.

At least, that’s what the Anbu were thinking, Indra just hated himself a little bit more.

A chorus of “EWWWWWW” flew across the room and the hospitalized Uchiha was suddenly much less crowded. He spat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, looking up at the Aburame chunin and Inoichi Yamanaki, whose presence was like a yellow thundercloud of disappointment and anger. The latter addressed the hapless chunin.

“Mizuki, get these children out of here! The quicker you do that the more likely you can keep your job. Eagle, make sure none of them picked up any of those medical records!”

The chunin bowed and began herding the numerous, babbling children out of the room while Eagle stood by the door, glancing at each one of them with an ANBU’s practiced eye. No one would ‘accidentally’ or otherwise leave with even a shred of the stacks of intelligence Indra had compiled for the Leaf Village. The man himself was busy scrubbing his face with a damp cloth someone had handed him and looked up to thank the considerate ANBU agent when he froze. It hadn’t been an ANBU agent who had handed him the washcloth, it was himself. Indra Uchiha looked into the eyes of his younger self, already serious, cynical, and just a little bit frightened for what seemed like an eternity.

“Hey!” A hand waved back and forth between them, breaking the spell of the moment. Indra looked over to see, who else? Naruto Uzumaki, waving at them with a look of confusion.

“Are you guys gonna just stare all day or are we gonna talk? You said you wanted to, y’know!”

“No, wait!” the younger Sasuke interrupted, pointing at the chunin, who was hustling the last of the uninvited guests out the door. “She stays!”

Sakura, who was perfectly happy leaving a hospital room with a scruffy, puking, weird-looking man in it, turned and looked back at him skeptically.

“Why? I thought this was a-“ She stopped. She was going to call it a family conversation, but the man had insisted Naruto be there as well, and he could barely pass a basic theory test in class. It’s not like the class dunce was going to contribute much and she’d helped Sasuke find out about his parents. Maybe she did deserve to be here.

Mizuki tugged on her arm again. “Let’s go Sakura, Sasuke needs some privacy with his uncle.”

“No,” a quiet, but firm voice from Sasuke again. “She’s smart, she stays.”

The chunin instructor looked at Inoichi, who looked down to Indra, who raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. “You get the last word. Do you want her here?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

On the surface, there was no real reason for Sasuke to make this request. He’d interacted with her only with the goal of getting his numerous admirers off his back and quieting the gossip at lunch as much as possible. But Naruto liked her, and she’d been getting the best marks in their class, above even his. She’d helped them find out more about his mother, even if some of it was stuff he wanted to forget. But above all, she’d kept his secrets. She could have used what she’d learned to turn him into an object of scorn, or blackmail him, or even simply share some juicy gossip with her friend Ino. But Sakura wasn’t like that. She was a bit of a romantic, occasionally blunt, painfully naive, but she was smart enough to realize how much his trust meant.

She and Naruto might not be full ninja skilled in deception, but he knew this was going to be a heavy conversation with a new surviving member of the Uchiha Clan, and Sasuke needed people he knew, without a shadow of doubt, were on his side.

“She’s with me.” He held his breath, but it worked. Mizuki-sensei shrugged, patted the girl on the back, and left the room,

Sasuke gulped while the man on the bed draped the washcloth over his shoulder, the one covered in stitches.

“Inoichi-san, please take Crane outside with you and perform a security barrier if you can. It’s best this conversation remain between us.”

Ino’s father seemed about to object, but something in the patient’s manner satisfied him. “We’ll put up a muffling barrier, no one can hear normal conversation, but shout if we’re needed.”

“Adequate enough.”

Inoichi gave Sakura a slight smile and left, closing the door behind him.

In the sudden silence, the click of the door was like an explosive tag.

Sasuke stood closest to the bed, with Naruto next to him, the blonde’s hand now subtly bumping his own in silent support. Sakura moved over to stand next to them and she noticed the man on the bed turned to keep them all in the sight of his one visible eye. He opened his mouth several times, as if to say something, then closed it again.

“I thought I’d know what to say by now.” he admitted, leaning back into the pillows on the bed and bringing his (also bandaged) hand up to cover his face.

“Me too.” said Naruto and Sasuke saw the man’s lips quirk in that signature Uchiha style that meant he was trying to suppress a smile and failing. The smile spread across the man’s face like a transformation jutsu, washing away the exhaustion and pain that riddled his features. Though nothing visibly changed, he suddenly looked twenty years younger.

“Always you, Uzumaki,” he said, more to himself, but Naruto perked up at the mention of his name. “You never change.”

Sasuke spoke next. “In that dream we had, you asked me to come find you, and to bring Naruto Uzumaki if the Hokage wouldn’t let me. Why was that?”

The man on the bed chuckled. “Because when there’s an Uchiha in trouble, there should be an Uzumaki to drag him out of it.”

“That wasn’t how your plan worked out. Quite the opposite, really.” Sasuke’s voice was firm, betraying no weakness. “He ended up insulting the Hokage and his Council in front of the village and almost got us killed.”

At that, the patient levered himself up, hand grasping for a weapon that wasn’t there. “What? How?” His distress was evident, and his hand clutched the sheets at his waist before he cursed and fell back, exhausted from even that brief burst of activity.

“Why should I tell you anything, when you haven’t even given us your name? You already seem to know us. Are you a spy? Is that what this is?”

The man on the bed shrugged. “You make an excellent point Uchiha-san. I’m not as sharp as I should be. Getting shot in the head will do that.”

He shook his head and took a deep breath. “None of that matters now, you deserve to know. My name is Indra Uchiha, illegitimate son of Fugaku Uchiha and chunin Mikhari Tandoshi of the Hidden Cloud, Hidden Protector of the Uchiha Bloodline and Clan from now until the day of my death. You, Sasuke Uchiha, are the last Uchiha loyal to the Village Hidden in the Leaves and the Head of the Clan. I-“

The man’s recitation, oddly formal and clearly rehearsed broke down as his breath hitched. The children could see he was struggling not to cry. When Indra spoke next, his voice was shaky, but he wasn’t looking directly at Sasuke, he was looking through him.

“I failed you. You needed me here and I failed you, failed your mother and everyone else because I thought keeping you safe was more important than being next to you. I didn’t know how to love you and I’m sorry. I’m sorry Sarada.”

The room fell silent as Indra scrubbed at his eye and pulled himself together. Sasuke shot Sakura a look and she couldn’t decipher if it meant _help me_ or _this man is crazy_. Naruto clumsily offered the man a box of tissues, which he accepted with a watery smile.

“Nice to see that face again.”

Naruto’s eyes widened. “You said that before, about Uzumaki and Uchiha, right? What’s that about?”

Indra nestled the tissue box into the side of his supporting pillows and locked eyes not with his questioner, but with Sasuke.

“I really should start from the beginning. Like I said, my name is Indra Uchiha. I was born twenty-seven years ago just before the Third Great Ninja War to a minor noblewoman in the Land of Lightning. Your father and mine, Fugaku Uchiha, was on an infiltration mission to capture enemy intelligence that was about to be delivered to the Raikage and was determined to acquire it by any means necessary.”

He shifted uncomfortably and the children all found themselves drawing closer to the bed and its occupant, enthralled by the story.

“He acquired the intelligence and left, ignorant of the fact that Lady Tandoshi had forgotten to drink her Moon Tea that month after he had hidden with her to avoid capture. And so, nine months later I was born, an Uchiha in a land that had just started killing them on the northern borders of Konoha. She kept me, taught me reading and writing, but as I grew older and my gifts as a ninja became too obvious, she smuggled me away, across the border and lost her life in the process.”

Indra looked up and saw anger etched across Sasuke’s features.

“You’re lying, my father only had two sons, he could never be unfaithful to my mother! Why is everyone so intent on making my parents into horrible people!? This story of yours is pure fantasy!”

He stormed towards the door, but Sakura grabbed his arm.

“Please, Sasuke, just let him finish his story. This was years and years ago, he might not have even married your mother yet! And Uchiha-san said, he never knew!”

“Yeah,” Naruto interjected. “Plenty of kids in the orphanage never knew who their parents were, it happens.” His gaze softened as he looked at Indra. “It’s rough, I get it.”

At that, Sasuke stilled and turned back to Indra, who had watched the conversation with interest. “So if you’re an Uchiha, you must have a Sharingan. Show me those eyes and then I’ll listen.”

Naruto perked up. “Hey,Sasuke!” He tapped the Uchiha’s shoulder and they moved away to have a brief whispered discussion. Sasuke seemed skeptical, but Naruto was excited, rotating his hands in a way obviously meant to imitate the Sharingan. Sakura, at a loss, looked to Indra and dived into the refuge of every lost conversation, the weather.

“So, what was the weather like, in the Land of Lightning?”

Indra’s mouth twitched in what Sakura could already tell was the Uchiha version of a smile.

“It’s in the name really. Frequent storms, lots of cloud cover. But if the winds blew fair, you could see for miles in every direction, down into the valleys where the farmers worked. Kumogakure had to reinforce their buildings every year to accommodate for the snowfall or heavy winds, at least until-“

He stopped, catching himself and Sakura pounced on the statement. “Until what?”

At that, Naruto and Sasuke turned back to look at Indra, who waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s not relevant right now. Like I said, I should tell this story in order.”

Whatever argument was happening between them, Sasuke ended it decisively and strode back, plopping down into Inoichi’s chair and crossing his arms and legs to convey his displeasure. “And like I said, you’ll do that only after you’ve shown me your Sharingan.” He paused. “Your full Sharingan.”

Indra suddenly glared at him and for a moment, they could feel his anger rouse itself from beneath the exhaustion and pain. “How do you know of-“ He frowned in thought and for a moment, to Sakura both Uchiha looked exactly identical, almost like twins, if Sasuke had been two decades older and missing an eye.

“Of course I’d forgotten. Itachi told you, didn’t he? That foolish bastard.”

The venom in his voice was mixed with something else, but before Sakura could decipher it, Naruto interrupted.

“Well, Jiji told us about it too. He told us lots of stuff when Sasuke an’ I went to meet him, y’know?”

Indra gave first Naruto, and then Sakura a questioning look, his single eyebrow raising higher and higher until it disappeared into his hair, which made Naruto giggle. “Indra-san, you look kinda funny right now.”

For his part, Indra looked to Sasuke, and turned his palm upwards, his face asking in Uchihaese, _Do they know about this conversation?_

Sasuke blew air out through his nose and pouted even harder. “They know what I know, Old Man, now show me!”

His last two words had the air of a command, but Indra wasn’t offended. He blinked and his dark eye spiraled out into the softly glowing red of the Sharingan, three tomoe spinning slowly in his iris.

“Oh, wow,” breathed Sakura. The tomoe spun even faster, then sharpened and folded in upon themselves, before exploding into a galaxy of black and red still contained within his single eye. Indra’s voice was grim. “The Mangekeyo Sharingan. A rare power, even among the Uchiha, said to only be obtainable by killing one’s closest friend.”

Sakura let out a gasp and began to back away towards the door, but both Indra and Sasuke shot her a glance that said _stay where you are._ With a growing sense of fright, she obeyed, even as Indra breathed out and the red glow in his eye dimmed, then vanished into its normal black. “However, that is not the only way to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan. Deep trauma or anguish of any kind can bring it about. Clan records say that only Madara Uchiha, our legendary founder was the only one to achieve this power, before your brother Itachi. In my experience, I believe those records are false.”

Indra smirked at the look on Sasuke and Naruto’s faces. “Caught you by surprise on that one, hmm? I believe many members of my clan, fearful of the Mangekyo’s reputation and the infighting it brought, kept it hidden their entire lives or used it sparingly. It is a dangerous power for to use it courts blindness, madness, and death, often at too high a cost.”

“But it can be used.” Interrupted Naruto. “To do all sorts of stuff, like seal the Nine-Tails,y’know?”

Sakura looked between them, expressions swapped. Now Naruto was the one whose face betrayed a grim resolve while Indra looked shocked.

“The Third Hokage really did tell you everything, didn’t he?”

“Well, I did throw a kunai at Councilor Danzo. I think that put him in a good mood,” admitted Naruto.

At that, Indra laughed, a soft chuckle that quickly exploded into guffaws that edged into hysteria before subsiding and prompting more use from Naruto’s tissue box.

“Thank you, Naruto, I needed that,” said Indra. “Now, where were we?”

“You had been smuggled into the Land of Fire at a young age by your mother, who died in the attempt,” recited Sakura, as she crossed the room to sit next to Sasuke. She reflexively looked for paper or a pencil to take notes with, but there was none to be found. Inoichi and the ANBU had been very thorough. Indra resumed his story.

“Thank you. As I was saying, I ended up in the Land of Fire, which was much more dangerous than it was now. The Konoha ninja who normally kept the peace were off fighting in the War and bandits or other unscrupulous characters were a regular irritant to travelers, particularly caravans or refugees. I joined one such caravan, which is where I met my best friend.” At this, Indra smiled fondly, the same kind of smile that appeared on his face when he’d first seen Naruto and it made Sakura smile a little as well. Sasuke, of course, remained immune. “I met Ashura Uzumaki, who cheered up another lost, confused boy and was convinced he could become Hokage one day, if you can believe such a thing.”

“Believe it! That makes total sense, Indra-san! I’m an Uzumaki and I also want to be Hokage some day, y’know?” Naruto leaned forward over Sasuke’s chair, almost toppling the boy over, he was so excited.

“What did he look like? What kind of ninjutsu could he do? What kind of ramen did he like to eat? Was he tall? I hope I grow up to be tall, y’know?”

Indra’s smile shrank but Sakura realized his expression was one of fondness. No, more than that, this was someone Indra Uchiha had loved deeply. “He was actually pretty short, sorry Naruto. He had short red hair and blue eyes, used the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and he loved miso and pork ramen more than anything in the world.”

“No way! That’s my favorite kind of ramen too, y’know? Do you know where he is, we could invite him to the village and he could eat at Ichiraku’s with me. They’ve got the best ramen ever!”

Indra’s smile was fading fast. “I’m sorry Naruto,” he said softly, “but he’s gone.”

It was Sakura who rallied her group as Naruto’s face shattered in front of her. “But gone doesn’t mean dead, though. Right Indra-san?”

Indra was visibly weighing his options when Sasuke spoke up as well.

“Tell us the truth, we’re not children.”

Indra snorted in amusement and his smile had curdled into bitterness. “Yes, you very much are. But Sakura Haruno is correct. He’s missing, not confirmed dead. At least I hope so.”

He reached out a hand towards Naruto but let it fall when the children made no move closer to him. “The Uzumaki I knew were some of the toughest people on the planet. Lived the longest, survived the worst the ninja world could throw at them. Lost their village and still survived, somewhat. Most ninja clans in that situation would be dust on the wind by now. My- he’s alive.”

He repeated it like a mantra. “He’s alive. I know for sure the location of at least one other Uzumaki who would love to be here in the village, and rumors of a few more. If I’m stuck in this bed for the foreseeable future, would you help me write them a few letters? By the time I’m well enough to travel, you’ll all be well on your way to becoming ninja and we can go meet them.”

He sounded both hopeful and pleased at his own idea. Naruto, Sakura could tell, was conflicted. She knew he didn’t have parents and Sasuke had mentioned he’d been living alone before he’d been roped into the Uchiha's shenanigans. Family. A Clan. Even a non-clanmember like her understood the power of that offer. It sounded too good to be true. She leaned over and pressed her foot down on Naruto’s. When he turned to look, she shook her head, just the slightest bit.

Naruto scrunched up his face. “Mmmmm, I’ll think about it, Indra-san. That’s a good idea though.”

“Enough.” Sasuke’s voice was still cold and Sakura saw he was now glaring daggers at Indra. “You think you can manipulate us so easily, like He did? Because we’re just little kids, we’d believe your story about Uzumaki, Uchiha, and this fairy tale about a noblewoman from the Cloud Village? That my father had a secret son he never told us about? Come up with something original!”

Indra glared right back at Sasuke. She saw the similarity again, like an echo. Creeepy.

“What answer would satisfy you? That I’m a disgraced Uchiha trying to reclaim a family name when there’s no one left to object? That I’m a liar and a spy with an implanted Sharingan? That I’m from a future where the ninja world was eradicated and I’m here to set things right?”

He reigned himself in visibly, releasing his clenched hand from the sheets.

“Look, I get it. You’re afraid to hope I’m real. That you won’t be the last one, that the burden and duty of killing Itachi won’t be yours alone. That you won’t have to wake up in an empty house screaming every night? Because now that there’s something else in your life, its existence is like a splinter under your skin? That you don’t know who Sasuke Uchiha is anymore if he can’t be an avenger?

I get it. I was there. I suffered the same way, for a long time. I ran with some pretty bad people, did some pretty bad things. But I’m here now. It’s not just you, and it’s not just me.”

Sakura glanced at the boys, who were both spellbound. Naruto clutched one hand at his chest while Sasuke had frozen in the chair, his hands curled around the armrests like he was bound there. Her own breathing sounded like the loudest thing in the room as Indra sighed and let his anger go.

“There is so much about me and you and us,” he spread his arms to indicate the three children, “that is so fucked up and I have no idea how to fix it. I still need to fix myself! But I know that we are not beyond fixing.

Sasuke’s chair skidded backwards as he stood, hands crushing something invisible.

“What makes you think that, you don’t know me! You don’t know anything! The only reason you’re still alive is because you weren’t here when my brother killed everyone. That means what you think is nothing! You’re worthless until you give me a reason and a solid story to trust you instead of coming after my life to shore up your own. Why should I trust you?”

His face had twisted into something frightening. Sakura had seen a stray dog caught in a broken fence, once, wounded and in pain. Sasuke’s face reminded her of the wounded animal.

Indra blinked. His Naruto’s words echoed over and over until he’d finally understood. “ _What kind of a person can become Hokage, when they can’t even save their friend_?”

The memory was gone. Sasuke crossed his arms and even Sakura gave him a skeptical glance. “What the hell does that mean? Why would you want to become Hokage when you’ve never been in the village?”

“Because my friend, my hus- he was my family. For a long time, even when I didn’t want him to be, when I drove everyone else away. He was my family, just like you. And family doesn’t give up on family.”

“We aren’t family! You don’t even know me!” Sasuke stormed towards the door as Naruto and Sakura followed, though at least they cast pitying or questioning glances back at Indra. Before they could leave, Indra knew what he had to say.

“That’s true, I don’t know you Sasuke. But I’d like to.”

Sasuke had flung open the door, but he paused in the doorway. Eagle leaned in through the top of the doorframe as blue, orange, and red filled the bottom. Sasuke turned and his face was somehow impassive once more as he took in Indra’s ravaged form. The injured shinobi held his gaze, unblinking.

Sasuke turned again and was gone. Unsurprisingly, Naruto broke the silence. “So, uh, thanks for meeting us mister. I mean Indra-san.”

Sakura managed to clobber him and bow at the same time. It was honestly impressive. “You have no tact do you knucklehead? I’m sorry Uchiha-san but again, thank you for speaking with us. We truly appreciate your time.”

Indra nodded. “The pleasure was mine Haruno-san, Uzumaki-san.”

The moment the sentence had finished, the two students bowed again and broke into a run down the corridor, shouting for Sasuke to wait.

Eagle slid back into his corner and closed the door as Indra fell back into his pillows. “So, how much of that could the whole floor hear?”

The Anbu let out a dry chuckle devoid of any real humor. “Something about ‘traitor to the Leaf and Clan name. Another miserable liar just like Him.’”

“This,” Indra said, addressing the ceiling more than the Anbu, “was an absolute disaster.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I agonized over this chapter for the longest time, trying to balance everything that needed to happen/be said in this initial conversation. Sasuke, having been betrayed by family once already, would be suspicious and trying to stamp out any hope he has. "Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment" is sort of his ethos at this point, even as Naruto and Sakura provide some of that hope and a steady, slightly-less-biased viewpoint of the same events. 
> 
> Indra is perhaps even more aware of how important this conversation is and is trying very hard to make a connection, but the juxtaposition of the people he failed in his past and his responsibility for the future means he lets a little more slip than he intended to. We see Indra dangle the one thing Naruto has wanted more than anything else, and how Naruto deals with the idea of a family as well. (Sasuke's rubbing off on him, for good or ill) Meanwhile, Sakura gets accepted into Sasuke's inner circle for the first time and manages to keep her head while the other two lose theirs and get swept up in what Indra is saying. Again, please let me know if you enjoyed the chapter, or even if you didn't, so I can improve my writing! I hope this fic doesn't seem slow to you all, I just find myself getting sucked into writing these crucial conversations.


	18. The Chicken of Sorriness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fallout

They found Sasuke mashing the elevator button with the single-minded intensity of a veteran pachinko gambler. Naruto opened his mouth, looked to Sakura, then closed it again. He raised his arms in a silent _what do we do_? gesture, where she responded by miming a zipper over her mouth.

“Stop talking about me behind my back” came the sharp voice.

“Hey!” said Naruto indignant, “Did you hear a word out of us?”

“I can see your reflections in the metal, morons.”

Naruto waved a hand experimentally and a dark shape on the chrome doors moved too.

“So, what next?”

“Do whatever you want, I’m going to go home and get some rest. Like I said, you can stay in the Uchiha Compound just… not tonight.”

“Sure, I get it. That was, whew, a whole lot-“

“Not yet you two.”

They both turned to look at Sakura. Naruto in puzzlement, Sasuke with both exhaustion and a flickering resentment. “What?”

Sakura planted her feet and glared back at them both. “We’re going out to dinner first, no backing out.”

“Why do you care?”

“Because I’m your friend. Because I just sat there and listened to two Uchiha yell for what felt like twelve hours and I am getting some fried chicken. Do either of you realize we talked through lunch?”

The ding of the elevator and the growl of Naruto’s stomach made for a curious combination.

“Come on!”

“No-“

“What-“

“Hey!”

There was a brief scrum as several nurses tried to step out while Sakura shoved the boys into the elevator, but they managed it. Something about her felt different, felt like Ino, or maybe Naruto as well. She wasn’t worrying about how she sounded, or looked, or what Sasuke thought about her. Sasuke clearly had lots of feelings right now. But Sakura? She felt good. She felt powerful. Her glare was what would come to be known to Konoha Construction workers as “the Wrecking Ball Special” and Sasuke was too tired to argue as she gripped his arm. “We’re going.”

Sasuke closed his eyes in resignation. “Fine.”

To their credit, they were silent for the rest of the way while Sakura led them deep into the maze of Konoha’s residential districts.

Only after Sakura had planted them on stools and ordered the waitress to bring “two boxes of the Haruno usual” did the conversation begin.

Naruto fiddled with his chopsticks before turning to Sakura and asking, “So, what made you go for fried chicken? I thought girls were all into eating healthy stuff like salads?”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Look Naruto, just because you can survive only on ramen noodles doesn’t mean the rest of us are total strangers to junk food.” Now she was the one spinning her chopsticks while Sasuke stared a hole in the opposite wall.

“Look, remember that big fight I had with Ino earlier this year?”

“Yeah, you called her a pig-witch and she said you were a-“

“My dad brought me here back then. He said his sensei brought him here after rough missions during his genin days and he wanted to pass it along. Plus,” she admitted, “I really need something deep-fried and two-handed to eat right now.”

“Wanted to rub your parents in our faces?” Sasuke’s accusation made Naruto and Sakura both jump as if stung.

“What the hell Sasuke?”

“Seriously? I’m trying to do something nice!”

The Uchiha clasped his hands in front of his face, but they didn’t miss the sneer. “I brought you in there because I thought you’d been a good judge of character. I thought you could help me wring the truth out of him.”

Sakura’s shock was quickly melting as the exhaustion and anger within her rose to meet Sasuke’s own. Inner Sakura was well and truly in the driver’s seat now. “What, you think I’m some kind of interrogation genius? I’ve been in the same class as you every day and Iruka-sensei hasn’t mentioned ‘how to talk to missing clan members’ yet! Ino taught me about flowers, not a mind transfer jutsu!”

“I thought that’s why Naruto said you’d be worth something to us, because you could get all those girls to lay off us-“

“Hey that’s not what I-“

“WORTH SOMETHING?” Sakura’s shriek reached fearful heights as her hand snapped her chopsticks in half. Sasuke was holding his like a kunai. Naruto laughed nervously.

“Okay guys, I think we should really tone it down here before we get kicked out of here.” They both ignored him.

“Explain why you’d think I’d need to prove myself to you when last week you wouldn’t even look my way!”

Sasuke’s tone was withering. “Maybe it was the admiring gazes. Or the blushing, or the fact you’re growing your hair long because some dumb girl thought I liked long hair? Maybe it was how you and everyone else kept talking about,” he put on a breathy falsetto, which just made his voice even higher. “Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun! I’m sick of it, and now-“

“OH LOOK,” shouted a desperate Naruto, “FOOD!”

The waitress placed two boxes of chicken between them and fled for cover. The rest of the small stand tried to pretend like they weren’t listening to every word. For now, they were to be disappointed. The two combatants ate in silence and Sasuke was forced to admit that Sakura was right about one thing. The chicken was delicious.

At first when the girl had ordered two buckets of chicken for three children, the waitress questioned her sanity, citing sodium poisoning. This did not account for an Uzumaki appetite and Naruto made something of a show of it for his friends. He stuffed whole drumsticks into his mouth and played drums with the bones. He spread crumbs everywhere until Sasuke snapped at him to eat like a normal human being. Upon seeing Naruto mask his hurt expression with another grin, Sakura took to pointedly snapping the bones of their chicken thighs and piling them on her own plate in a miniature pyramid.

The dam of silence broke when the check arrived. Sasuke automatically reached for it, only for Sakura to snatch it out of his hand. “Sorry Miss Evie, can you just put it on my dad’s tab? I’ll explain to him tonight, I’m sure it’s ok.”

The waitress looked doubtful. “If you say so Sakura-chan.”

Sasuke’s hand closed on the other side of the little black booklet. “It’s fine, I can cover it.”

“My dad-“

“It’s not about the money. I got you involved in this and it was a mistake.”

A thin green frog wallet landed on top of the check. “No it wasn’t.”

They both finally looked at Naruto. “Jeeze, I thought I was the dummy here. Sasuke, Sakura-chan helped us out when we needed it and you invited her to stay in that hospital room when she wanted to leave. Now you want to kick her out? Look, that guy said a lot of stuff an’ I dunno if I believe it either. Neither do you two. Indra-san had a lot to say and he wasn’t real cheery today. Now we’re all tired and angry, so let’s just all make up and split the check, y’know? Like grown-ups do. We can figure things out later.”

Someone in the restaurant coughed and Sakura was suddenly very aware of how many eyes were on her. Oh, her mother was going to have a fit. “Ok. Sorry I dragged you out here, I just wanted to take your mind off this guy.”

“Sorry I spilled crumbs all over everybody.”

Sasuke wasn’t looking directly at either of them. “Sorry for…what I said before.”

“About?” Sakura’s voice was inflexible, copying how her mother mad her apologize.

“Sorry for saying you weren’t worth something and that thing about your parents. That was uncalled for.”

Sakura nodded and let go of the check. “Thanks.”

Sasuke and Naruto did the same. To his credit, Naruto was already beaming again, but she couldn’t tell if it was a false smile or not. “Like I said, we’ll head out. See you at school tomorrow, y’know?”

Sakura allowed herself a small smile of her own. “I’ll be there, see you later.”

As they left in separate directions the Anbu on the roof also split up. The last comment made by Beetle summed it up. “If they keep this up, we’ll have to build a whole new psych ward just for those three in Anbu. Freakin’ bonkers.” Hound silently agreed.

___________________________________

(Older)

He is expecting it, but Sasuke allows himself a groan as masked Anbu in black cloaks silently let themselves in. They don’t even make a token effort at concealing their presence, reminding Sasuke by their movements alone that ROOT in every meaningful way IS Konoha, that they have every right to be here, to own every organ of his body if their leader deems it necessary. All to ensure the survival and prosperity of Konoha.

Danzo’s eternal justification for his actions, one he believed wholeheartedly, as if it made the butcher’s bill any lower.

He didn't have enough time to attempt the Yamanaka Sublimation Jutsu, so Sasuke didn't bother. He would face Danzō as Sasuke Uchiha once more and trust to his own will and his singular Sharingan to face Danzo’s own. He raised his head from the pillow.

“Can we do this tomorrow night? I’ve had enough deep personal conversations today, schedule’s full.”

“We cannot,” said Danzō as he came through the door opened silently by one of the-one, two, three, twelve shinobi present in the room. Spider is absent, which means this is less likely to be an open attempt on his life, but Sasuke knows he has made Root very curious about him, a wayward Uchiha with far too much knowledge.

“I hope someone thought to bring a pen, because I’m not taking notes tonight. That’s what Inoichi’s reports are for.”

“You’ve still left a great many questions to be answered, Indra Uchiha. If, that is your name.” Danzo gestures and the Anbu by the door brought in a chair and placed it next to the head of Sasuke’s bed. Close enough for a quiet conversation and lit only by the light of the moon streaming in from the window. That, at least, is a light Root cannot smother, which Sasuke finds comforting.

“Now, how did you come to discover the Foundation?”

Sasuke pushed himself into a sitting position and ignored how the Anbu twitch at his movements, even as slow and pained as they are.

“My duties as a guardian of our Bloodline made it difficult to miss you, Shimura-san. Going through records of the Third Shinobi War to find battlefield burials, some of them contained unmarked, unaffiliated shinobi. Some of those shinobi carried traces of Konoha bloodlines. “

He raised a palm to forestall Danzo’s reflexive objection, born more from an affront to his tradecraft than any real outrage.

“Traces few foreign hunter-nin could see, but for an Uchiha? With decades spent wandering the world? As clear as day.”

That, at least, wasn’t a lie. His Naruto had ordered a fact-finding mission to uncover the extent of Danzō’s influence and if there were any contingency plans that could trouble him as Hokage. Like, say, explosive tags rigged underneath the Hokage Tower, or secret underground vaults filled with forbidden jutsu scrolls. As the new Head of Anbu and Shadow Hokage, Sasuke had exposed more than a few false flag operations and dug up plenty of battlefield graves. It had inspired Sand and Mist to undertake their own housecleaning operations and while the results were bitter, they at least cleared the air for the new leaders of the Five Great Nations to deal with one another honestly. Honesty that was utterly foreign to Root, or their more formal moniker of The Foundation. Sasuke continued.

“Discovering your motives, well, that was another difficult mission, but I considered it the responsibility of a Clan Guardian. There were already Uchiha in your organization and, well, we deserve better than an unmarked grave and bloody eye sockets.”

He glared at Danzō as the old man sighed and slowly unwound the bandages on his head. “I had hoped you didn’t know, but I suppose it was your first priority, wasn’t it? Locating the missing Uchiha prodigy?”

“Yes, the highest priority.” Again, not a lie. Just not the Uchiha prodigy Danzō was thinking of.

“I warn you now, Danzō, if you try to use that eye against me, I will pluck it out now and damn the consequences. I am willing to work with you, as much as I loathe everything you choose to be. Do not force my hand.”

“Classic Uchiha arrogance, to think you could take me as you are now. These shinobi would take your hand and head before you even spat your first spark.”

Sasuke’s single red eye locked with Danzō’s and he fairly spat the next word.

“Perhaps.”

The air in the room, already still despite the presence of so many shinobi, was now suffocating in its weight. Danzō did not react but held the stare. At the least, he was smart enough to not even attempt a genjutsu. Instead, he moved on.

“You say the eye you lost, to this-“ he pretended to recollect, “Obito Uchiha, was the one that could see the future? If that was true, why have you only returned now? Why not stop Itachi before he slaughtered his clan? Why not prevent every Uchiha’s death? Hmm? Or perhaps such a bold lie is simply to mask the fact you have spent so long swimming in secrets, you have now forgotten what the truth tastes like?”

Sasuke felt his eye begin to water, but refused to blink. To blink would be to admit weakness, even for a moment, and in that moment, Danzo could very well take his remaining eye.

“The eye that has seen our future is now gone, yes. It allowed me to see many truths and many lies over the years but could never see through them all. Even the sharpest eyesight may miss a a kunai if the head it is in has turned away.”

“Hn. Quoting the Second Hokage, then? Are you aware he was my master?”

Sasuke was not.

“I thought not. Still, it proves your own point of fallibility. Tell me, when you supposedly peered with that eye into the future, what did you see? Much of what you have related is too fantastic to be true but-“

“It is. Every word of Inoichi’s reports is true. What proof can I give you, Shimura-san, that would convince the most cynical man in Konoha? What information could I give that your most skilled spy could not?”

Danzowas silent, but he finally lowered his eyes in thought. Sasuke gratefully took the chance to blink repeatedly and wiped at his face. It felt as if he was dancing along a tripwire with no chakra and with Rock Lee’s infamous leg weights. This was an exceedingly dangerous conversation and he could feel the void pulling at him with every sentence he uttered.

“Tell me of Orochimaru. What is it he truly desires? He professes a desire to learn all jutsu in existence, and seeks immortality to that end, but it is too trivial for a mind like his. He always sought higher goals, higher than what even I have hoped for, and I would know his purpose.”

“Your favored pupil, you mean. Tell me, of the shinobi in this room, how many worked with Orochimaru? Body collection or disposal? Kekkai genkai theft? Assassination missions? I’m curious.”

A barb to tease his opponent. Dangerous, but calculated. To Sasuke’s satisfaction, the twelve shinobi shuffled slightly, betraying their unease in a thousand subtle ways. All the emotional repression in the world could not hide micro-tremors in one’s arms, or the shift of weight on feet. His Sharingan caught it all.

“I see.”

“You see nothing.” Came Danzō’s sharp rejoinder. “You didn’t, or perhaps, are unable to answer this question. Moth, erase his-“

“Orochimaru seeks the Rinnegan.”

One of the shinobi shifted to look out the window, his posture wary.

“He seeks that which will allow him to master all jutsu as quickly as possible and to do so, he requires a mature Sharingan, as well as the flesh-“ Sasuke smirked at Danzo. “Well, it wouldn’t be safe to tell you either. I’ve seen you try before, Shimura-san. You thought you could use your Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails, but your arrogance outstripped the capabilities of your body and you died for it.”

Again, not a lie. Danzo’s failure to control the power of Hashirama Senju had exhausted his chakra and allowed Sasuke to neatly kill him, on that long-ago day on Samurai Bridge. Sasuke locked eyes with Danzo once more, leaning forward to emphasize his point.

“Shimura Danzo, I shall warn you this once. Attempt to use a single other Sharingan, now, or in the future, for your purposes, whether it is for Konoha or your own strength, and I will see you executed in front of the Five Kage myself.”

“You are not giving me any compelling reason to allow you to live, Uchiha-san. You remain a poor negotiator.”

It was difficult to convey a wink with only one eye, but Sasuke managed it. “But Shimura-san, you forget! I have so much knowledge of the future hidden inside this head of mine, even your best Yamanaka would not be able to pull it out before my suicide jutsu takes effect. If you keep me alive, think of the ways Konoha could be strengthened, the wars avoided, the plans of Cloud or Stone revealed before their strategists so much as put ink to parchment!”

He let out a bitter laugh. “As much as we both might wish it, I am worth more to you alive than dead, because of what I know. Even someone like you-“

“Wow, wow, you two know a whole bunch of stuff, don’t you?"

The Anbu spun in circles as they backed up, retreating to the corner of the bed to cover their master. Sasuke’s hand twitched with the need to hold a weapon. He knew that voice…

Above them, the green jaws of Zetsu emerged, followed by a white and green head.

“I’m up here, you idiots!”

The waving Zetsu was immediately impaled by several dozen kunai and shuriken of varying sizes.

“Ohhh, and I just wanted to see senpai have some fun!”

Sasuke’s eye widened and he scrambled closer to the wall.

“Oh shi-“

Black Zetsu emerged from the cracks in the tiled floor as an abyssal maw of teeth and cutting edges. The three Anbu closest to Sasuke’s bed, also nearest to Danzo, fell without a sound, bitten cleanly in half. They didn’t even bleed as they hit the tile, for the very jaws that killed them had already drained their vital essence to continue the slaughter.

As he rose into a humanoid shape, Black Zetsu laughed, even as five Anbu fell away, clutching at rents in their cloaks.

“Really, _Indra_ Uchiha?” he mocked. “The arrogance of your bloodline is what has made all this so stupidly easy, time after time. Did you really think you could use that name and expect us not to notice?”

Sasuke shoved one of the dying Root agents off of him and opened his hand. His Sharingan spun, then exploded into a kaleidoscope of red and black. Only one thing could stop Zetsu, even temporarily.

“Amaterasu, Flame Control!” 

He could hear the Anbu fighting towards the door, with Danzō still at the center, brandishing a Vacuum Blade of his own. “Sir, get out while you can!”

“He’s slaughtering us, you fool, just fight!”

“Sir, you mu-ghhh”

The masked man fell with a spear of darkness through his head as Black Zetsu chuckled.

“Really, such pathetic shinobi you create, Shimura Danzō.”

The old man lashed out with his glowing blade at Zetsu’s shoulder, the absence of air sharper than physical materials could ever be, but the darkness simply parted around it, yellow eye staring, staring, staring.

“Let’s see how much punishment you can take, old man.”

Black flames carved through the sticky tar of Zetsu’s torso, creating white lines of contrast as the chakra construct’s essence was devoured by the eternal flames, even as they restored themselves.

Sasuke gripped the sword of black fire tightly in his hand and allowed himself a smirk as Black Zetsu growled in anger.

“Let’s see about you, abomination.”

His eye burned in his head as a wall of black fire enveloped the creature, blocking it off from a diagonal slice of the hospital room. It was excruciating, but somehow, he had channeled the power of what had once been both Mangekyo Sharingan through only one.

Danzō turned to regard Sasuke, and for the first time, there was a glint of respect in that single narrowed eye.

“Will that hold it?”

“Not for long, unless you have some kind of sealing jutsu.”

Sasuke saw a tendril of black worming its way up from the tiles and stabbed down. His makeshift sword sliced clean through the hospital bed and impaled the fragment on the tile. He gritted his teeth.

“Running out of chakra, Shimura.”

Danzō nodded and brought his hands together. If he wasn’t so focused on keeping the Amaterasu burning, Sasuke would have noted the sixteen signs the Root leader formed, but the shallow pool of chakra he’d accumulated over the day had run out. The wall of black flame and his sword dissolved as reality reasserted itself and the form of Black Zetsu flowed forward. “Oh, yes, Master is going to be very pleased with you indeed.”

Danzo stepped forward to meet it and brought his hands up to grasp at the chakra construct’s face.

“Eight-sign seal, Supreme Order, Takamimusuhi-no-Kami!”

Black lines flowed from his hand and flowed over Black Zetsu, where they sank into its substance. The void frowned. 

“Tricky, tricky shinobi. But it’s not enough!”

A black arm rose into the air, its axe-shaped end poised to crash down on Danzō’s shoulder, splitting the man in half. A Sharingan spun as Danzō gritted his teeth and ignored the arm.

“Forbidden Jutsu: Kotoamatsukami!”

The arm halted, twitching, next to Danzo’s ear. He slowly raised his hands from the creature as Sasuke crawled towards the pair on his elbow and stump, chest wheezing with the effort.

“What, what did you do?”

Danzo began to back up and tripped over the body of one of the Anbu. He cursed and fell sideways onto Sasuke’s nightstand, sending the empty water jug to shatter against the floor.

For a few moments, their ragged breathing and the sound of scattering glass were the only sounds in the room.

“Commanded him to stop. Not the idea I would have chosen, given time, but the most effective given the circumstances.”

“Oh jeeze, what did you do to senpai! You Konoha ninja really don’t know how to play nice!” White Zetsu complained as his body, still riddled with weapons, fell to the floor with a squelching noise.

“Fuck off.” Not Sasuke’s best comeback, but he dragged himself upright using Danzō’s chair.

Black Zetsu made a whimpering noise, but still hadn’t moved. Sasuke risked a glance at Danzō. “How long do you think that will hold it?”

“Hold it? What even IS it?” said Root’s leader, hands already poised to begin shaping signs once more. “It ignored an eight-sign paralysis seal, which should be impossible. They use those to bind biju, for the Sage’s sake!”

Black Zetsu growled and they all saw the axe blade twitch, ever so slightly. Sasuke pried a kunai out from the corpse grip of the nearest Anbu, for all the good it would do.

“Last time I saw that, it took a two-man seal to do the trick.” As Danzō cast him a questioning look, Sasuke shook his head and resisted the urge to show the moon symbol imprinted on his palm. “Can’t do it now, so don’t ask.”

Just that simple admission, was painful. He was afraid, practically naked, facing an enemy he had last sealed inside an alternate dimension, but if Naruto had been there, he knew they could have won. If. Naruto, his Naruto, was gone. And the moon only ever reflected the light of the sun.

He focused on reality again as White Zetsu frowned at them both. “Well, you guys are just big poopy-pants, no fun at all! I’m taking senpai and going home!”

The plant-man walked into Black Zetsu with an organic noise as the Akatsuki’s spy and assassin combined once more. It glared at Sasuke and Danzō again. “Just wait until Master hears about this!”

Sasuke threw the kunai as Danzō spat an air bullet from his mouth, only to shatter the window. Zetsu disappeared into the floor with barely a ripple and was gone.

The entire fight had taken less than five minutes.

Danzō let out a sigh, followed by a string of curses as he snatched at the remaining bandages and his greying hair in equal measure.

“That thing made me waste the Kotoamatsukami, damn it! Damn you!”

He rounded on Sasuke.

“How does that thing know you, Uchiha? And how could it kill twelve of my best operatives without even a whisper from their Byakugan?”

Sasuke blinked and allowed his eyes to cycle down to their natural dark coloring. His mouth was a grim line to match Danzō’s frustrated snarl.

“You want to know the answer, Danzō Shimura? That’s the only enemy that matters. Not Stone or Mist, not even war-hungry Cloud.” He pointed his bandaged eye socket to emphasize the point. “The only thing that matters now, and the sooner you accept that, the more chances we have to stop a war that will wipe even the idea of shinobi from the land.”

Sasuke sighed and let his arm drop.

“We got lucky.” He admitted.

They had been spectacularly lucky. If what White Zetsu said was true, he could have been dragged off to meet “Master Madara” and a very hideous end by either his, Zetsu, or Pain’s hand.

“It’s a singular chakra construct, dedicated to-“

Summoning its mother, reawakening the Ten-Tails, and either ending the world, or sending off the signal that caused all those other Otsutsuki to in turn end his and Naruto’s world in forty years seemed like too much.

“Ending the world, basically.”

Danzō had noted the pause. “Why?”

Sasuke flopped his stump in a helpless gesture. “It was created to do so. Not much more to it.” Now it was his turn to ask a question. “How long does the jutsu from that eye last?”

Danzō reached up and shut a scarred eyelid with his fingers. “It should be permanent.”

“Should?”

Root's leader nodded wearily and began wrapping the bandages around his head. “We’ve both been in this business long enough to know _should_ rarely works in our favor.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “When can you use it again?”

Danzō looked down at the bodies and tied the wrappings tightly. “You don’t expect me to reveal such privileged information to-“

“I just got attacked by Black Zetsu about ten years ahead of schedule, you scheming bastard. Tell me, how soon can you use that jutsu again, or I’ll tell every genin in Konoha about Root’s recruiting methods!”

Sasuke regretted the words the instant he’d uttered them. Even tired, frightened, and scared, he should have been cautious, but there was no going back. He’d made plenty of threats tonight and Danzo had taken each in stride. But that last one, for some reason, _had_ shaken the Root commander. He stared at Sasuke for a moment, fury and fear mingling on his visible face before he dropped his gaze to the bodies once more.

“Five years.” He admitted. “A command that powerful can only be ordered once every five years.”

Despite his exhaustion, Sasuke felt his lips twitch. That was just perfect. “Right on schedule after all.”

Danzō grunted and gestured at the demolished hospital room. “I don’t suppose you’ll help clean this up, then.”

“Hn.”

They said little, but when morning came, their bodies finally gave in to exhaustion. The incoming Anbu shift found the bodies of twelve Root agents stacked head to toe in the corner, with Indra Uchiha and Danzō Shimura leaning against opposite corners, deep asleep, but still clutching kunai in their hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been waiting to publish this chapter for a while. Turns out, it was deeply stupid to name yourself after someone that would immediately send alarm bells ringing in the head of an ancient chakra creature. It also provides an opportunity to showcase that Danzō actually is a competent shinobi. So many fics have him butchered offscreen by time-travelers and even though he's the source of so much dickery, it seems like such a waste of a character. Of course, Indra's not going to let him plot freely in the background, either, so it's a balancing act. Zetsu also seems to have bitten off more than he can chew, which addresses two things the normal Narutoverse had difficulties with: Shisui's eyeballs and Zetsu's indestructibility. The former is pure plot device and Danzo is right to be worried about the abuse a permanent mind-altering jutsu can be used for, but he's also not the best candidate to hold it either. Meanwhile, Zetsu's ability to go anywhere and see anything had to be addressed early, so he wasn't listening in on the Anti-Akatsuki conversations. Here, both problems (temporarily) solve themselves and yes, I know Shisui's eye doesn't need 5 yrs to regenerate in canon, but I needed to do something so Danzo wasn't spamming it.
> 
> We also get Sasuke's emotional backlash to the emotional turmoil Indra unleashed, and Sakura gets the brunt of it, for character development purposes. Part 1 Sasuke was a bit of a misogynist, so this isn't entirely out of character, but it's also deeply unfair to Sakura. She's not very inclined to take his shit, either and when Naruto has to be the voice of reason and calm, you know things are out of whack. I've admittedly really been craving this fried chicken place in my city called Roaming Rooster, run by Ethiopian immigrants who are good people, the best kind of American success story too. Plus, this is also an opportunity to connect in Sakura's parents as well, who we'll get to in a bit. (Eventually)


	19. Conversations of Import

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you destroy a hospital room in a forbidden jutsu battle, people talk. Indra has two more conversations, one expected, one not.

To his credit, Danzō told the truth about what had happened when Zetsu had attacked and if nothing else, the construct’s attack underlined the immediacy of the threat the Akatsuki posed. He and Indra disagreed on how to best approach the problem though. Danzō wanted to wage a campaign of subterfuge, assassination, bribery, and gradual delegitimization in the shadows, grinding down the Akatsuki’s membership and freedom of movement over years. The organization was too small to attack with large armies, and until most of the jinchuriiki were captured, the Five Great Nations would never unite out of suspicion and paranoia.

Indra had seen how Obito operated best in the shadows, lurking under different masks and relying on the prestige of the name Madara Uchiha to give weight to his claims. Fortunately, the Uchiha founder was still dead and Indra intended to be sure he stayed that way. Indra wanted to publicize as much of his information as possible, to make nations aware the Ninja Village system was being slowly undermined and eroded by a third party organization. All of the ninja drawn to Akatsuki had been S-Class criminals, which ran into what he and Danzō acknowledged as “The Anbu Problem”

“The Anbu Problem” was that as highly-ranked jonin, the Anbu Black Ops undertook some of the most difficult and dangerous missions the Village could offer, which meant they often found themselves fighting against S-Class ninja or with odds deeply stacked against them. Simply put, situations that called for the presence of the Anbu Black Ops were also those with the highest chance of killing the Anbu Black Ops, or resolving themselves before a strike team could arrive. Usually to find ten to fifteen corpses and no sign of their quarry.

Danzo had also been slightly insulted that Indra had refused the offer of a formal posting in the Anbu, choosing instead to be designated a specialist jonin for matters involving the Akatsuki. As both the head of the Anbu Black Ops and a member of Konoha’s Administrative Council, Danzō was abusing the power of the purse granted by the latter to give far more money and materiel to the former. Though it allowed the Anbu to operate in even more secrecy and security than other Hidden Villages, it also meant Danzō was effectively paying himself to fufill his own missions. And Indra knew Danzō would pay any price to advance his goals, even when a saner observer would have deemed the price too high.

So no, even after last night, he would pay as much attention to Danzō as possible. Indra’s resolve was strengthened when the rush of doctors, questions, and a cleanup crew had resolved with him in a new room with twice as many protective seals and a smaller window, he still had several curious visitors.

The first was a teenaged silver-haired genin with glasses who’d been tasked with changing his IV while the other nurses were busy. Though he presented himself with an apologetic smile and the open hands of someone who was being careful to not startle his patient, Indra trusted Kabuto Yakushi even less than Danzō.

“It’s only a saline solution to keep your blood sugar up, I promise,” the medical trainee soothed, holding out the bag for Indra’s inspection. “See, the seal is unbroken.”

Indra smiled in relief and nodded as Kabuto stepped forward to reach the drained bag.

Like a striking hawk, Indra’s arm lashed out and grabbed Kabuto’s wrist, dragging the boy closer to the bed and forcing him to stare into his patient’s snarling face as his Sharingan flickered to life before dimming. The medical-ninja opened his mouth but Indra shook his head.

“Scream and suffer, or stay quiet like a good little spy. Your choice.”

Kabuto closed his mouth and his eyes sharpened behind his glasses. “Who do you work for? I’ve heard so many rumors these past few days, I simply had to come and see for myself.”

“I could ask you the same thing. Stone, Mist, Cloud, and Leaf. Root, Orochimaru, Akatsuki. You’ve worn so many headbands, and at such a young age. But who you report to in the end doesn’t matter, not right now at least. I just want you to deliver a message.”

Kabuto offered a fake smile, as if he was perfectly happy to do so. “Of course, provided I’m alive to deliver it. I’ve even got a bit of an insurance policy.”

Indra looked down and saw Kabuto’s free hand, glowing with the telltale sheen of a chakra scalpel, poised along the inside of his thigh. “You can try to torture me with that Sharingan of yours, or any other number of horrible jutsu, but the moment you do, I will simply cut your femoral artery before I die. With all the damage you’ve sustained and without this saline drip I was going to give you, the blood loss would kill you in less than ten minutes, unless this hospital has a truly exceptional medical ninja on its staff I missed.”

Indra frowned. “Very well then. Look into my eye and I will give you a nice little genjutsu packet that contains everything Orochimaru or Sasori need to know.”

“I should hope I’ve already proven that I’m not that stupid,” said Kabuto scornfully. “Relay the verbal message and we’ll be done with it. I’ll even do you the courtesy of switching this IV like I was ordered to. Those are my terms.”

Indra’s voice was full of dark promise. “Tell them that I’m coming for them. For all of them. Unless Orochimaru is willing to collaborate with me on a little project.”

“Concerning?”

“I’ll tell him myself. I just want to make sure he’s expecting me so he can break out the quality wine.”

The hand released him and Kabuto backed away from the bed, but the threatening shinobi from moments before was already gone. He’d returned to being just another near-invalid on a hospital bed. “Thank you for the help, Kabuto Yakushi. It was most appreciative.”

Kabuto swapped the IV bags in silence, bowed perfunctorily, and fled the room. Indra crossed his fingers. Hopefully the little rat would scurry right back to his master and not bother with intermediaries. He’d already given Kabuto enough to think about and plenty of hints that the snake’s spy network had been compromised, which should cause his most prized spy to retreat to the Sound Village as a matter of course. He returned to his finger exercises with some satisfaction, only to be interrupted by a knock on the doorframe.

Sasuke Uchiha stood in the doorway, looking as bored as he could, but the pretense was futile.

Indra found his voice. “I didn’t expect to see you back so soon.”

“They said something happened last night, so-“

“I’m fine.”

“I don’t care,” snapped his younger self defensively. “You’re going to give me a straight answer this time, without those other two idiots here to distract us, or to make excuses for you. Now, why did you come back?”

“Saving the world has a nice ring to it. And also, to try and redeem myself.”

“For what? Were you helping Itachi?”

Indra looked annoyed now. “No, as I said, I’m hunting the man who helped Itachi kill all our relatives. I’m trying to redeem myself because it turns out I failed the people I loved the most, when I thought I’d succeeded. I can give you the gory details, but from the way you’re glaring at me right now, I doubt you’d listen.”

“Why are you so interested in me anyway? Why not just go back to your family?”

Indra shook his head. “They died to get me here so I could make things right, so that’s what I’m going to do. That includes making sure you’re a decent shinobi and have your head on straight, as far as I’m concerned.”

“What if I want you to go away and never speak to me again?”

Indra chuckled. “That would be difficult to do when we share the same dreams.”

“Another mystery I’d like you to answer.”

“I honestly have no idea, so guess away.”

Sasuke was silent, either because he was taking the time to think or because he was pouting, Indra wasn’t sure. “You’re not as angry as yesterday,” he offered.

“You’re not as cryptic. It’s called a conversation.”

It took effort for Indra to reign in his annoyance. Had he really been this much of a brat when he was young? He was forced to concede that he probably was. A few calming breaths later and he plunged back in. “Doctor Ontoba said he won’t discharge me for a month or two, so we’ll have more time to get used to each other. If you want, I could get an apartment, stay away from the Uchiha Estate.”

Sasuke looked nonplussed for a moment, but returned his face to the smooth blank expression he was working so hard to project. “Why would you do that? You’re an Uchiha, you belong in the Uchiha District.”

“I was under the impression from this conversation that you never wanted to see my face again.”

“That was a question, not a statement. I need someone to teach me more about the Sharingan.”

Internally, Indra cheered. He wasn’t _Uchiha non grata_ yet. “So where do we stand?”

“You don’t, you’re stuck in that bed. I’m going to believe that story you told me yesterday, on one condition:”

“Name it.”

“Any more sordid Clan history you want to air out? Because I’ve had about my fill for one lifetime.” Sasuke sounded exhausted and emotionally drained so Indra immediately shifted to high alert, internal alarms howling like the Ten-Tails.

“What brought this on?”

“A lot.”

Indra mentally ran through the list of all the possible people who could have told him about Itachi. It was a short list, none of whom would have had any reason to appear to a ten-year-old Sasuke and tell him the truth. He decided to bluff with something generic to see if Sasuke needed to say more. “Family can be tough. I was the Uchiha Bloodline Enforcer, so I’ve learned more than most about the mistakes a Clan can make. The Hyuga and the Aburame have plenty of skeletons in their closet too, if that helps.”

Sasuke turned to look out the window which conveniently hid his face from Indra. They were both probing now, trying to get the other to divulge whatever heavy weight lay on them first. Indra kept pushing. “You’ll have to be more specific Sasuke. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s troubling you.” His younger self flung up his hands.

“I don’t know! You, my parents, everything! What am I supposed to do with that? What should Naruto? Do you know what I’m even talking about?”

Indra felt his mind kick into high gear, whizzing through dozens of possibilities in the span of seconds and came up with absolutely nothing. “I don’t,” he admitted. There was a long silence as he waited and Sasuke wrestled with how to say it out loud.

“My mom loved someone else before my Father, if she ever loved him at all.”

Indra’s remaining eyebrow disappeared into his hairline. “And how did you lean this?”

“The pink-haired girl you met yesterday, Sakura Haruno, has been helping me with research. Trying to find out more about my mother, about you, as well. We found some Akimichi’s diary from the Third Great Ninja War and our Anbu guards told us the rest of the story.”

“Awfully chatty for Anbu guards,” said Indra even as he knew with absolute certainty who the only real candidate for that position could be. The Third Hokage really was too clever by half.

“He’s been useful” said Sasuke shortly. Indra nodded absently and picked up his water glass to stall for time. “How is Naruto involved in this?”

“You’re the one who asked me to find him, so this is really all your fault.”

Guilty as charged. Sasuke took a deep breath.

“His mom and my mom were…together.”

Indra choked on his water and began a coughing fit that lasted several minutes as he pounded weakly on his chest with his remaining arm. “I see,” he said weakly, “how that would be upsetting to you both. For what it’s worth, this is news to me.”

“Well, it seemed to be pretty common knowledge from what we read, Mister Uchiha Bloodline Guardian. So, any other world-altering secrets you want to throw at me, get them out of the way. It’s not like things can get much worse, they’re all already dead anyway.”

Well, shit.

He obviously couldn’t tell Sasuke the truth now. It would shatter him completely and that was if he even believed his mysterious new uncle. However, he also remembered Itachi’s parting words, how he should have told Sasuke the truth from the very beginning. The longer he waited, the more damage he would do until Sasuke dove deep into the Curse of Hatred, all for revenge on one party or another. Then, an idea occurred to him. It was dangerous, and would put Indra in life-threatening peril with regularity, but it might be the only way to split the difference. He was already stained with failure, what was one more moral compromise in the face of Sarada’s disappointment?

“If you heard something happened last night, do you know who was with me?”

Sasuke shrugged. “The guy Naruto threw a kunai at. Danzō”

Somehow Indra wasn’t surprised. “He and I have much to discuss and potentially a great deal of work to do together.”

Sasuke looked skeptical. “You’re really good enough to join the Anbu Black Ops?”

“I used to be better than them, but that’s not the point. The point is, Danzō’s up to something. He’s always up to something and I intend to get to the bottom of it. I don’t know what it is yet, but when I find out, I’ll tell you first, no matter what it is. Sound fair?”

His younger self turned back towards him, arms crossed and expression still neutral. “Before even the Hokage?”

Indra nodded, not trusting his voice to speak the lie.

“Good. Now get some rest, I can’t wait to kick your butt in the dojo once you get out of the hospital.”

Despite himself, Indra smiled. “Can’t wait to kick yours.”

They shared a brief look of mutual respect and then Sasuke strode out. Eagle’s head poked around the door a few moments later with a lunch tray in tow, which he slid onto the bedside table. “Danzō’s up to something, huh?”

“He always is, that’s his job. But yes, once I’m out of this place, he and I will have words.”

Eagle was silent but Indra knew he’d made his point. “Deal with one problem, create two more,” he muttered to himself. “This is going to be such a drag.”

Across town, Shikamaru Nara’s ears burned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have Opinions on the Village governing structure. Namely, Danzō is abusing the Third Hokage's trust to run the Anbu and act as a financial supervisor, granting himself the money and avoiding oversight of the Hokage to run all his Root missions against the law and off the books. By contrast, the Anbu he runs is also under the authority of the Hokage and has records in the village, so the shinobi there are able to be held accountable if they go outside their mandate. Also, as we've seen, Anbu are still mostly normal people, while Root agents are conditioned and sealed to the point it would count as an abuse of subordinates. These are all reasons why Indra was dead-set on staying away from Root as much as possible, but his conversation with Sasuke now has him thinking it might be best to dig deeper so he has a plausible explanation for how he learns about the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre.
> 
> I'm trying to balance Sasuke's suspicion, his natural dry humor, and his desire to have people around him now. The result is a slightly less standoffish Sasuke who's still a bit of a tool, but Naruto, Indra, and Sakura will help him deal with that.


	20. Dark Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra has some unpleasant surprises for his enemies.

Obito Uchiha was mad, driven by loss, despair, and several cursed compulsion seals Madara had etched on his remaining inner organs, but even he was not capable, or willing to work 24/7. That was what the Zetsus were for, after all. For once, he was enjoying a rare moment of peace, sitting on top of Madara’s statue in the Final Valley and eating lunch. He didn’t need to eat anymore, but the taste of the rice balls and the spices always made him feel a little more human and a little less like an abomination against life fused with a living tumor, working on a plan to subjugate all life on the planet.

Obito Uchiha didn’t like himself very much.

His quiet was spoiled by two vast green jaws emerging out of the stone next to him, followed by a grasping white hand and panicked exclamations. His lunch immediately discarded, Obito stood, grasped Zetsu’s hand and pulled with all his considerable strength. Zetsus were normally able to move through the earth and the most solid of substances like water, an ability which made them incredibly useful as spies and assassins, but now it felt like he was pulling the creature free from hardening cement. With a groan of effort, Obito put his back into the motion and heaved Zetsu free of the stone, which the plant-man promptly collapsed upon, covered in sap.

“What is this? What’s happened to you?” Obito’s voice was low and suspicious, the spiral mask already back on his face. He took in Zetsu’s pose for a moment and stared in shock. While the white half of the plant-man was gasping and showed the signs of some massive effort, the inky half of Black Zetsu remained frozen in place, one shadowy arm raised in an axe shape, just above shoulder height.

“What happened to him?”

White Zetsu wrenched itself away from its counterpart with a sucking sound and rolled onto its back to look up at him. “That rumor you sent us to look into, the one about the mystery Uchiha? It’s true. He’s alive, and knows far more than he should.”

The mad Uchiha bent down and turned Black Zetsu this way and that, studying the frozen form. “Is this permanent?”

White Zetsu gave his counterpart a worried expression. “How should I know? He hasn’t moved or said anything for the last two days. Seems pretty permanent to me.”

Obito cursed and kicked at the black form. It rolled sideways until its outstretched arm halted its momentum with a clatter. “Who did this?”

“The old man in the Leaf,” gasped Zetsu. “The one who let you in to mess up the Uchiha Clan. He tried some sealing jutsu, but we know that doesn’t work on Zetsu-senpai, then he did something with that Sharingan eye of his and Senpai stopped moving.”

Obito clenched his hands and strode away to look over the landscape of the Final Valley. “And you let them live?”

“They were really scary Master! I barely escaped with senpai, you know I’m not very good at fighting, right?”

They were silent as Obito thought, the wind whistling through their robes and spilling down into the valley below. Even in his fury and uncertainty, a part of Obito still marveled at the view. It really was spectacular, a landscape altered by the fury of two shinobi alone. A testament to the power he too could possess, if he chose to.

“We will leave them alone for now, see what develops. The Leaf’s actions in the coming months will tell us much about what this Indra Uchiha knows and what he intends to do. I intend to take advantage of the slightest mistake he makes.”

“Wh-what should I do with Senpai?”

“Prop him up in Madara’s cave, next to the Gedo Statue. If that cannot heal him, then he will serve as a potent reminder for us to not underestimate our enemies.”

White Zetsu sank into the ground, dragging his frozen partner along with a sigh, but Obito paid them no heed.

“Well then, Indra Uchiha,” he murmured. “Let’s see how you intend to play our little game. I’m most curious to see what you do next.”

_________________________________________

Deep into the Land of Rice Paddies, Kabuto was similarly calm. He’d ran, hard for three days across wooded and mountainous terrain before it fell away into the terraced fields of the Land of Rice Paddies. Lands which paid tribute, willing or not, to Lord Orochimaru. Back in friendly territory, he absently swapped headbands back to the winged note symbol common in the area. Not that it mattered to him, but it would make it less likely the guards would attack first and debrief him later, and Lord Orochimaru did not tolerate delays.

He launched across a field and landed in a small copse of trees on the other side, which foretold the forest deeper in, which in turn hid Orochimaru’s most secure hideout. His fundamental base of operations for the Sound Village, experiments, and the closest thing Kabuto had to a home in a long time. The Sound spy waved an absent greeting at two black and purple-clad chunin, who saluted back as he landed in front of them. “Where is Lord Orochimaru? I have critical intelligence he needs to hear as soon as possible.”

He had no time and no inclination for preamble now. One man jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Down there sir, in Lab, uh, 17-B, the spider-boy’s nest.”

Kabuto smirked. “Playing with his food again? It’s a nasty habit, someone really should try to break him of it.”

The two Sound ninja very carefully did not look at each other. “If that’s what you think, sir,” said the second, blandly. “We have a patrol to complete, so…”

Kabuto, tired of the teasing, nodded and they took off.

 _They make it so easy_ , he thought to himself. _It’s like stealing candy from a Wind Monk._

After ten minutes of walking through packed tunnel walls, crowded with shinobi and stacks of equipment, Kabuto finally reached Lab 17-B. He knew the patrolling ninja had been correct, partially due to the lack of nearby ninja, but mostly because of the muffled screaming. He put his ear to the door. It wouldn’t do to interrupt his master mid-sentence, so he’d wait for an appropriate pause.

“Now, now Kidōmaru, stay focused. Tell me again, what is the tensile strength of your webbing?”

“Ghh-five hundred and twenty.”

“Rotate that joint five degrees forward and hold it there. Five hundred and twenty what?”

“Joules per cubic meter, sir!”

“Good, good.”

Kabuto took the moment to knock as Orochimaru’s annoyed voice hissed out of the keyhole.

“Who is it?”

“Yakushi Kabuto, my Lord. I’ve returned from Konoha personally with some urgent news.”

“Excellent, you’re just in time to consult on my newest creation. Come in!”

Kabuto opened the door and closed it behind him. Orochimaru was bent over a stainless-steel table, covered in a mask, gloves, and with his hair bound into a tight ponytail behind him. The motionless and lumpy form of Kidōmaru lay beneath him, semi-conscious.

“Come forward and look at this ligament connection.”

The spy and medical ninja put on a mask of his own and bent forward to examine the flayed meat of Kidōmaru’s shoulder. What had once been a single pair of arms was now three, attached at the _unde subscapularis_ muscle, distorting the ninja’s profile and multiplying his fighting prowess. Orochimaru pointed with a bloody finger.

“I duplicated the transverse humeral ligaments along thirty-degree angles and stretched the synovial membrane so the arms could easily synchronize. Still, it’s something of a radical departure. Do you think they will hold under stress?”

Kabuto made an absent noise as his eyes traced the muscles, tendons, and ligaments down into their limbs. “It all seems in order, Lord Orochimaru. Has his nervous system acclimated to the new inputs?"

Orochimaru’s eyes gleamed, which meant he was smiling behind his mask. “Oh yes. When I explained the risks to dear Kidōmaru, he positively volunteered to perform the experiment without any anesthetic! I’ve even been having him use his new arms to move the old ones as I work. He’s already such an excellent multitasker, aren’t you Kidōmaru?”

The Kumo Clan member groaned and gave them three trembling thumbs up and Kabuto watched in fascination as the muscles moved underneath his gaze. “With all respect Lord Orochimaru, I wouldn’t have him lifting boulders for a few months, but time and chakra usage should strengthen the bonds enough to fuse his new limbs seamlessly with the old. Are the limbs donated, or cloned, out of curiosity?”

Orochimaru made to brush his hair back from his face, only to be reminded it wasn’t there. A habitual gesture of pride. “Cloned of course, I couldn’t risk tissue rejection, especially when dealing with such a unique clan’s bodily secretions. His Sticky Gold Armor wouldn’t work if it covered only part of his body, would it? No, I mixed a few of his tissue samples with dear Shin’s and grew these last week. Now there’s a volunteer who has allowed me a truly infinite canvas to work with.” The snake-man sighed in satisfaction, as if he’d eaten a large meal.

“Now, as we sew this up, what was so urgent you felt you had to break cover and come back here in person?”

Kabuto took a needle in one hand and gathered green healing chakra in the other. As they worked and Kidōmaru let out infrequent grunts of pain, he explained. The sudden arrival of Indra Uchiha in a very public manner, the consternation among high-ranking ninja and the scramble by Doctor Ontoba to save the man’s life. Kabuto had assisted him in that operation, mostly as a supply gopher, but he knew it had been a close thing. The comings and goings of mysterious shinobi at all hours of the night, including the Hokage and Root agents. The massacre of those same Root agents and Shimura Danzō’s surprising testimony in favor of the Uchiha. The warnings Indra had given him, that he and possibly Orochimaru’s entire spy network inside the Leaf had been compromised and a worrying amount of knowledge about his former subjugation under the Akatsuki. The threat and enticement, that Indra could and would destroy Orochimaru and the Akatsuki both unless Orochimaru cooperated with the mysterious new Uchiha on a project. With 15 years of experience reading others and calling bluffs, Kabuto was convinced Indra believed what he was saying. As outlandish as it sounded, this man could very well have that kind of power, especially considering Orochimaru’s own failure at capturing Itachi Uchiha. Kabuto had left Misuki to his fate, not willing to push his luck approaching a Konoha teacher and departed to inform his master.

Orochimaru was silent until the last of Kidōmaru’s hair-thread had been tied off and snipped. Kabuto’s medical ninjutsu sealed the wound shut and allowed the thread to secure the many connections and additions Orochimaru had made to one of his bodyguards. “Kabuto, did you find this man credible and sincere, when he spoke to you?”

“Yes, my Lord. Very much so. He also said for you to expect him, and to break out the good wine when he arrived, so he at least expects to be welcomed. I’m sure he knows of your desire for the Sharingan, though, for he described himself to multiple parties as the Uchiha Clan’s secret Bloodline Guardian. Were you ever aware of such a position?”

The snake ninja stripped off his surgical attire and threw it in a nearby wastebin, as Kabuto saw he looked pensive. “It was mentioned once or twice, but Fugaku always said it was redundant in the modern era. An effective lie, that would allow him to deny responsibility for an unacknowledged Uchiha if he was caught. Quite possible, to be sure and if this Indra Uchiha seeks my council, he must have something to bargain with.”

A hungry look came over Orochimaru’s face. “We must speak to him as soon as possible, Kabuto. Regardless of your cover, return to the Leaf Village and provide him with directions to the Southern Hideout at once.”

His spy looked unhappy, so Orochimaru grasped his shoulders and brought them face-to-face, golden-slitted eyes staring into dark ones. “You must do this for me Kabuto, it represents a rare opportunity to-“

The moment Kabuto had met his eyes, the spy’s face twitched violently in a seizure. Or a genjutsu compulsion. Orochimaru let go and leaped backward down the corridor, arms up in a defensive stance.

“My Lord-“

Kabuto began to grasp at, then claw at his face, flinging aside his precious glasses, which clattered to the ground. “It burns! It burns! It burns!”

Black fire erupted from his eyes and spread across his face. The pleas soon devolved into wordless howls of pain as the spy’s face, then his throat, melted away like wax.

“Amaterasu” cursed Orochimaru, sketching out a seal in blood on the rocky floor and slamming his arms and chakra into it. Kabuto collapsed to the ground, hands and head smoking as the black fire flowed away from him and into the seal. But it was too late.

Kabuto was fading fast, the tissue damage too severe, and the shock too overwhelming and unexpected for the medical ninja to try healing himself. Orochimaru’s mind raced as he considered the nearby labs, their ingredients, and patients, if any could help salvage his most valued spy. Root experience was hard to come by after all, but to lose it to the Amaterasu…

He had only survived Itachi’s retaliatory attacks through his own extinct clan’s substitution jutsu, which shed one body for another, at the cost of a very large amount of chakra. Kabuto had no such direct recourse, and perhaps twenty seconds left to live.

He felt a presence and a snake reared from his sleeve as his remaining hand played green healing chakra over his subordinate’s face, some of which was scorched down to the skull. “Get me the jar of glutaraldehyde in Lab 17-D, I need to preserve his synaptic connections. It’s the jar two across from the fanged Inuzuka skull on the far wall and has a greenish tincture. Go!”

Kidōmaru, covered only in blood-soaked bandages, swayed on his feet and his arms hung limply at his sides. Still, he staggered off in the right direction. Orochimaru ignored the wretch and poured lightning and wind chakra into his subordinate’s skull. The first would continue the brain’s neuroelectricity, while the second would provide oxygen to the neurons themselves on a microscopic level. Not his normal method of preserving a brain, but Kabuto had certain knowledge he couldn’t afford to lose, that could very well be lost in death. Reanimation was a possibility, but despite his test run against Sasori six months ago, he hadn’t worked out all the subtleties of identity reconstitution. The Sannin gritted his teeth and hissed in frustration even as he felt Kabuto’s vitals stabilize slightly.

Oh, Indra Uchiha wanted to meet him then? Well, no Uchiha was strong enough to stand against both him and the Sound Ninja Five. Oh, there would be a reckoning, and soon.

Hundreds of miles away, Indra Uchiha felt his chakra flicker slightly and he smiled. It had taken him a very long time, and countless obliterated clones to rediscover the technique Itachi had used on him as a failsafe, but it had been worth it. It had worked on Obito, in his past life, and just now, it had apparently worked on Kabuto as well. Orochimaru could survive nearly anything, including a bijūdama, but his spy was far less durable. One potential problem out of the way and the first source of Reanimation jutsu to go. Orochimaru himself would have plenty of time to consider Indra, and he was fine with that. Let the Sannin scheme and come up with contingency after contingency. Indra knew what he wanted most, how to stop him getting it, and, failing that, how to exterminate the snake. He breathed out and passed another sheaf of intelligence to Inoichi in the corner, some scraps on Mist’s current Fourth Mizukage. Things were already going pretty well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to use the Megapascales scale for tensile strength, but Pascal doesn’t exist in Naruto, so I had to use an alternative unit of measurement. Kidōmaru's number is the highest recorded tensile strength for spider silk, found in the Darwin’s bark spider. I always felt like Kidomaru’s spider theme was a little too much, the spit, the arms, the eye, and the summons? I headcanoned the spit and the summons to be legacies of his Clan, with the arms being a rare mutation among them, but Orochimaru artificially added it to Kidomaru to see if he could. The additional eye, obviously, comes from the Cursed Seal, so :/. Dissolvable stitches are a fascinating medical trick, normally made of silk, animal guts, or hair, they seemed just like the sort of thing Orochimaru would enjoy using, especially if it was the patient’s own guts or hair. Sadistic bastard but hey, he wears a mask.
> 
> Everybody wear your masks, and make sure to cover your noses! I know it sucks, but 3/5 people I've seen on my grocery runs were wearing their masks incorrectly. Granted, I'm in the United States, which hasn't exactly covered itself in glory with this COVID response so pot, kettle, etc. What a mess!


	21. A Friendly Match

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra finally gets out of the hospital and takes the time to get back in shape.

Sasuke arrived at the training ground two hours before the Hokage had asked him to and spent the time combing over his arsenal of skills. He’d expanded his jutsu library considerably over the years, thanks to the regular old Sharingan. However, remembering which ones he had in the heat of battle was difficult for any experienced Uchiha, so most tended to rely on a core of ninjutsu drilled into them by the Clan. Kakashi would, of course be expecting them. After half an hour of scribbling in the dirt with a stick and reviewing jutsu to counter Kakashi’s numerous changes in chakra nature he realized he was actually looking forward to this fight.

It wasn’t a desperate battle to save the world, to start a revolution, or to seal away a god, just a public spar for the ninja of the village to examine his abilities and show off that there were still surviving Uchiha. He could win or lose as he wished and all it would change was the numbers on a mission payment stub. Refreshing.

Reinvigorated, Sasuke spent the next hour and a half running through the esoteric abilities his remaining Mangekeyo Sharingan granted him, as well as his repertoire of lightning jutsu and stretching his muscles. Countering lightning with lightning wasn’t the most efficient use of chakra, but it was impressive and flashy, which the civilians and jonin alike could appreciate on an aesthetic level, if nothing else. Still, he couldn’t afford to play too many of his cards, even with Kabuto gone from the village. There were always other spies for Danzō, Orochimaru, and perhaps even Sasori of the Akatsuki. Who knows, perhaps Zetsu itself would show up again, the black spawn gleeful at another Uchiha to corrupt with the Curse of Hatred. Not that it would work, but Sasuke had no way to seal the creature…

Ok, now he was just drifting into possibility instead of the immediate probability Kakashi would hand him his ass. Indra looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw what had to have been half the jonin lounge ambling towards him, with Kakashi’s silver hair in front, on time.

Sasuke couldn’t help it, his mouth dropped open. Kakashi was on time! His bastard of a sensei had even been late to his own coronation as Hokage, but now he’d shown up right when Sarutobi had recommended they arrive. His arrival really was changing things already, for a fundamental anchor of the universe to have shifted so suddenly. Nara were lazy geniuses, Hyuga were condescending, and Kakashi Hatake was late. But not this time.

Sasuke scrambled to his feet and chanted the familiar Yamanaka incantation in his mind, settling into the patterns of Indra Uchiha, who was already beginning to feel like slipping into a well-worn pair of trousers. Indra looked up and allowed a small smirk to cross his face as he waved his hand in greeting. For an Uchiha, that was a very hearty welcome and Kakashi, long fluent in Uchihaese waved in acknowledgement and his eye crinkled into a friendly smile. Indra spoke first.

“So, you’ve brought along the peanut gallery? As long as they stay out of the line of fire, they’re welcome to the show.”

“Believe me,” commented Kurenai, who was practically vibrating with excitement as she produced a thick pair of reading glasses, “we wouldn’t miss this for the world.” She leafed through a legal pad covered in numbers and hatch marks. “The Mysterious Uchiha Survivor in his first public appearance, up against his own Clan’s dojutsu by way of Copy Ninja Kakashi? Ibiki’s put a month’s salary on you to win in the first minute.”

There was an audible groan from the assembled jonin. “No fair Kurenai, you can’t tell him the parameters! Now he’s going to drag it out.”

“Maa maa, wasn’t this supposed to be a friendly spar?” said Kakashi, hands in his pockets, looking as if he were out for a morning stroll. “I think I’m going to have performance anxiety, with all this pressure.”

Indra pointed with his remaining hand. “Then you probably shouldn’t look behind you.”

If the jonin who had followed Kakashi to Training ground 44 were a respectable group size, the horde charging from the treeline had to have been half the Hidden Village, already excited and chatting animatedly to each other. Indra flicked on the Sharingan just to capture the look of horror on Kakashi’s face as they descended upon the contestants and swept over and around them in a wave of humanity.

He saw Sakura hoisting an enormous cork board up while Kiba Inuzuka and Choji Akimichi scribbled down bets and stashed offered money into a cash register that seemed to have no bottom. A crowd of genin erected metal bleachers alongside the tree line while a harried-looking Hayate Gekko sketched out a circle in the dirt. Civilians unfolded lawn chairs or umbrellas, though the sun wasn’t anywhere near oppressive. He caught a glimpse of Sasuke forcibly dragging Naruto away from Teuichi’s portable Ichiraku’s stand, despite the fact it was 10:00 AM, nowhere near lunchtime. He saw an Anbu mask for the briefest instant and the crowd parted to reveal the Third Hokage, in full regalia and wearing his most grandfatherly smile. The advisors behind him even looked a little more human, clearly infected by the excitement and good cheer of the shinobi and civilians alike. Danzō walked with a little more energy to his step and his eye passed over both Indra and Kakashi, appraising them. Despite himself, a muscle in Indra’s jaw twitched but he took a deep breath as the Hokage raised his hands for silence.

The chatter of conversation, the calls for bets intensified as the populace rushed to finish last-minute preparations before the Hokage could speak. With surprising speed the crowd melted back beyond the boundaries of the circle, Guy giving Kakashi an encouraging thumbs-up and a grin, while Inoichi looked at Indra and flicked a brief string of ANBU sign. It wasn’t complicated, an informal but well-memorized grouping every ANBU had issued and received at one time or another. It meant simply: “Kick his ass.”

Sarutobi raised his hands, in benediction as much as to quiet the crowd. “Well then, now that everyone’s looking forward to this contest, let me remind you of the rules. This was supposed to be a simple, private test of Uchiha-san’s skills and to confirm his recovery after his sudden return to our fair village. He will become a Konoha shinobi, wearing the same headband and protecting the same village as every one of you. This fight will be judged by the clan heads, the councilors, and myself in a spirit of good faith…”

Sarutobi paused, ostensibly to take a breath, but he could have sworn he saw Councilor Homura step on Danzo’s foot and mutter something about “He’s talking to you Danzo”.

The bandaged elder sniffed and gestured as a trio of Anbu emerged from the crowd with four very comfortable-looking chairs, which the elders sank into with relieved sighs. Indra tuned back into the Hokage’s speech.

“-A contest of wits, ninjutsu, and physical ability that I hope will inspire all our young shinobi-in-training and encourage those who already wear their headbands proudly! The fight will allow all standard shinobi weapons and will continue until one opponent yields or the judges, including Hayate here, decides the match has run its course. The audience will, of course, be protected-“

He and Genma crouched at the edges of the circle and made a series of signs as a light blue barrier flared into existence before becoming as clear as glass. “-But we shall still get to enjoy the fruits of our shinobi’s contest.”

Indra raised one eyebrow in surprise. A third-level training barrier put in place by the Hokage and a top jonin. He could work with something that strong. The Hokage turned to Indra and Kakashi, who had barely moved as the entire scene swept around them, Kakashi still standing with one hand in his pocket, as cool as if he had been lounging around on a street corner. Indra swept one foot through his meaningless scribbles in the dirt and unclipped his cloak, throwing it up to catch the breeze and carrying it up over the barrier to be chased by an unsettlingly large number of young and middle-aged women. Some of his mixed discomfort and excitement must have showed in his face even as the audience cheered at the dramatics, for Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow and wrinkled his forehead which was standard Uchihaese for “Are you feeling alright?”. Indra shrugged, cracked his neck, and laid one hand casually over the hilt of his sword, the Uchihaese response of “Bring it.” Despite himself, he could not stop a smile from tugging at the corners of his lips. This was going to be fun.

The Hokage had finally finished speaking and Hayate Gekko stepped forward.

“Alright gentlemen, I want a good clean fight, no thumbs in the eye or barroom tricks. The ladies are watching. The combatants both nodded and stepped closer, each two or three feet from Hayate, their focus now entirely on each other. Kakashi looked serious, but Sasuke had been around the man long enough to see that twinkle in his eye. Despite all the gloom the man seemed to wallow in, he was just as excited as Indra was.

Hayate brought down his hand, “BEGIN!” and they were off.

Kakashi pulled his headband up and launched forward with a kunai in each hand, Indra drew his own sword and they met in the middle of the field in a blaze of sparks and twisting limbs.

Kakashi had two blades, but a shorter reach, while Indra’s longer blade spun in his hands as he shifted from a standard and backhand grip on the weapon from moment to moment. A vertical rear guard along his shoulder blade to block a horizontal blow a genin could have seen coming, only to spin and turn himself nearly horizontal in a leap that forced Kakashi to abort his follow-up strike to block the sword whistling around Indra’s hips with the full centripetal force of the man’s body behind it.

The kunai and the blade locked in a classic X-pattern above Kakashi’s head, the jonin bracing against the blow even as Indra used the leverage of his position to vault himself up into the air using enough chakra to send him spiraling up, still horizontal.

Kakashi looked up at him to see Indra use the last of his momentum to kick the sword back down and was forced to backflip out of the way. The crowd oohed, appreciatively as Indra’s lone hand flashed through the signs and a rain of Phoenix Flower followed the sword down as well. Kakashi’s own hands had been signing and suddenly every stray puddle and bead of dew in the arena flew up and combined into a water wall, filling the whole area with steam as the jutsu collided.

Kakashi and Indra could see through the regular steam just fine, but the copy ninja breathed out a thin stream of mist from behind his mask and the area soon became blanketed in a white, chakra-infused fog. The audience groaned at the loss of vision then gasped as a dozen shuriken flew up, still trailing smoke, to embed themselves in Indra’s chest.

A chest which burst with a puff of smoke to reveal a perforated log in a classic substitution jutsu. There was a pause as the log fell to earth with a soft clonk followed by twin explosions of rock and flame that dissipated the mist as they collided once more. The audience saw Indra crouched low, flame still curling away from his lips as the Grand Fireball dissipated while Kakashi was crouched equally low to the ground surrounded by broken ground and boulders. Both shinobi were surrounded by kunai and shuriken embedded in the dirt that had flown invisibly over each other’s heads.

Indra was pleased. His body was responding well, his chakra levels at satisfactory levels and Kakashi was matching step with him, both gradually amping up the intensity of the fight. This was why Hatake had the makings of a good teacher, deep down. His adaptability and strategic mind naturally allowed the teacher to adjust his methods to his students or, in this case, his secret ex-student and current sparring partner.

Indra straightened and tugged his sword out of the soil, spinning it in an unnecessary flourish before sliding it back into its sheathe. “How do you feel about trying something unorthodox?” He called across to Kakashi who straightened and leaned backwards, rotating his shoulder joints with an exaggerated casualness. They were both posturing now, two shinobi who were still getting the measure of their opponent and peacocking for the spectators while they strategized. Sasuke had shown only the standard Uchiha jutsu in addition to his own unique kenjutsu style, the result of not only travelling the Elemental Nations for a decade but a grueling six-month training regimen from Killer Bee in Cloud.

Freshly missing an arm, Sasuke had needed to rebuild his fighting style from scratch and who better to ask than the master of unconventional kenjutsu who wielded eight blades plus a Legendary one? The man had laid him out flat multiple times when Sasuke had tried to kidnap him and he had been keenly aware his friends were the only reason he’d survived that fight. So he’d asked Bee to train him. To the man’s credit, Bee had only beaten him bloody twice and had always treated him with respect afterwards. 

What he was planning to do now however, was to go right back to the basics. He formed the hand signs slowly, even though he’d performed the jutsu so many times he only needed one to concentrate the chakra in his hand. He let the lightning chakra build and build in his hand until it became a physical thing, flickering out and snapping residual charge in the air, that sound as familiar as a lullaby. The chirping of the Chidori.

Kakashi’s eyes widened and he charged his own Raikiri. “How-how did you learn that jutsu?” His tone wasn’t disbelief, but naked shock. Indra winked at him, and cast his voice to the crowd. “What a surprise, the Copy Ninja doesn’t like to be copied! Let’s see if the original holds up to the imitation.”

To the civilians he seemed to disappear, but the eyes of the jonin and the Hokage followed him across the field, holding the Lightning Blade low so it dug a furrow in the ground. He’d kept it at a reasonable charge, what he’d used to train Naruto’s son long ago. It wasn’t as lethal as a true strike but it wouldn’t tickle either. He raised his hand towards Kakashi, who was mirroring his actions almost like a dance. Their gazes met as the lightning shattered around them, Indra’s bright blue chakra sparking off of Kakashi’s silver-white. As equal and opposite charge canceled each other out, their hands locked together and their foreheads collided with a sickening crack that had several of the spectators wince in sympathetic pain.

Pain neither of them felt, because they were both deep inside their own heads.

Genjutsu battles were always intense for the participants, but boring for the audience, which is why skilled genjutsu users rarely called for excitement in the chunin exams. While a man played shamisen with his opponents leg tendons and they struggled desperately to break away from the pain or the smell, or the sound, all the visiting damiyos saw were two shinobi staring at each other, teeth clenched, muscles straining.

Sasuke had a number of genjutsu in his arsenal he’d selected for this battle. Nothing as draining as the Tsukiyomi, and nothing especially painful, but enough to make his respectable aptitude at genjutsu clear. Kakashi “woke up” tied to a pole in the middle of a grassy field and the rumbling of an empty stomach. The jonin rippled his chakra as he twisted the ropes, but the mental bonds held tight. Sasuke had layered his defenses, knowing each one would slow Kakashi for perhaps two seconds. Thirty-seven layers, with a surprise at the end.

As Kakashi slowly created some slack in the rope around his wrists and burned through layers 1-25, Indra stepped from nowhere, a tomato in hand and took a bite out of it. He let out a “Hmmm” of Uchihaese purely to irritate Kakashi and waved the imaginary fruit in front of the Hatake’s highly sensitive nose.

“Want any?”

Kakashi was equally casual, examining the structure of the genjutsu with a professional air as he broke through layers 26-30. “Maa maa, Uchiha-san, you certainly are a well rounded shinobi. Do you have any real weaknesses a trapped fellow like me could exploit?”

Blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a slightly fanged smile, but Indra would rather rip out his only eye than reveal that particular detail. “Only my family.” He gestured and the field was covered in gravestones bearing the Uchiha fan. “But that’s not surprising, in my present circumstances.”

One of the gravestones flickered, a woman covered in blood, mud, and rain glaring at Sasuke’s back as she silently shouted. Kakashi very carefully did not stare at her, but layer 31 took three seconds longer to break than it should have. The gravestone next to her flickered out and a man in orange looked at Indra’s back, mouth set but blue eyes full of emotion. The rest of his features were obscured by mud and black, sizzling patches that ate into the muscle of his cheeks. It was clear they had both been part of the same scene, repeating a few seconds in silence behind their caster.

Sasuke cleared his throat and the field was empty and looked down at the ground in silence as Kakashi’s eyes narrowed. It was quite likely this was another layer of the genjutsu, but Indra’s body language radiated embarrassment and something familiar. Kakashi ignored genjutsu layer 32 as he looked up at Indra, but the field was darkening into nighttime, shadow covering the Uchiha’s features.

“Like I said Kakashi, not surprising.” He wiped at his face absently, as if the mud or blood was still there and in the instant of distraction, the Leaf jonin drove through layers 32-37 in one shove to stand up, the ropes falling away. Indra looked up, but Kakashi had his hands on the Uchiha’s shoulders.

“Sorry.” Said Kakashi as he brought his forehead forward in a mirror of the headbutt still grinding against his real self.

The Uchiha exploded in a puff of white smoke. A very large puff of white smoke. And in that smoke…thin hips, wiry arms, and a sultry look straight out of Icha Icha Paradise.

Layer 38-Sexy Jutsu!

“No, I’m sorry,” murmured Indra as his ex-sensei vainly attempted to stem the explosion of blood from underneath the mask.

“How-Why?” gargled Kakashi as his knees hit the illusionary grass.

Now Indra was smiling, even if it was a little sad and nostalgic. “Because no one will ever believe you.”

To the rest of the audience, watching in rapt silence, three things happened almost simultaneously. Tears began to stream from the Uchiha’s only eye as he fell to his knees laughing and clutching his stomach. Kakashi’s nose became a fountain of blood and he staggered backward as if Choza Akimichi had just hit him with a full Expanded Roundhouse Kick.

To everyone involved it looked like a tie and Kakashi would swear it was until his dying day.

The spectators erupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for spacing difficulties in this chapter, my spacebar key broke a few weeks ago and it's been temperamental. Question: is it better to have Kakashi just say "Now, now" or stick with his conversational filler of "Maa, maa" in Japanese? I try not to overdo it with the Japanese phrases, but let me know one way or another what you think flows better.


	22. A Few More Memories and Resignation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi thinks about a career change and Indra almost makes a mistake

Danzo turned sheet white. He had been alive for 76 years and he had never, ever, heard an Uchiha laugh. Chuckle, yes, as the Hokage was chuckling now, partly out of amusement, partly out of sheer disbelief.

Genma emerged from behind a sturdy-looking pine and looked between the two combatants, both lying on the grass, in no shape to continue. He glanced up at the Hokage. “It looks like a tie to me, Lord Hokage.”

The judges were forced to lip-read over the uproar from the stands. Sasuke had both his arms outstretched, gesturing angrily at the field while Mishitari Anko jabbed a finger in his face and held up several promissory notes. Two of the Anbu had moved in to protect Sakura and Naruto who were trying, vainly, to make sense of the dozens of people trying to cash out. Might Guy was offering Kakashi a dark green handkerchief while Inoichi Yamanaka and one of the medical ninja were levering Indra Uchiha into a sitting position and trying not to look as disturbed as they felt. For a medical professional and a psychological intelligence expert, laughing Uchiha never meant anything good.

This madness went on for twenty minutes.

When the dust had settled, the shinobi offered one another the seal of reconciliation, bowed to the Hokage and assembled villagers, and vanished in a simultaneous and uncoordinated shunshin.

It took Kakashi an hour of silence at the Memorial Stone to compose his thoughts and another half hour to describe the battle, which had lasted exactly two minutes and thirty-seven seconds and ended in a tie.

Indra had made it halfway to the Uchiha District before he collapsed onto a roof, sides heaving with laughter and regret in equal measure. Probably because he was mentally unstable, again, but the grief he had deliberately seeded into the jutsu had now entwined itself with the image of his Naruto trying to frown at him while laughing. Disappointed Sasuke hadn’t clued him in on the joke, but cackling mad with delight the famously stuck-up Sasuke Uchiha had finally performed the Sexy Jutsu. It was after all, the jutsu that laid low a Goddess.

The next day, Kakashi stood in front of his Hokage and delivered his assessment. His back was straight, his tone precise, every inch the professional soldier he had been since he was 8 years old. The tissues stuffed up his nose made his mask puff out slightly and muffled his noise just a bit, but the Hokage drank in every word. The flawless use of Kakashi’s own Chidori technique, the unorthodox fighting style based around manipulating his body and sword in surprising and illogical ways, the strong overhead chops that suggested time spent in the Mist Village, the complicated swap from overhand to reverse grip bladework in seconds that screamed Cloud, to the carefully husbanded jutsu that showed competence without revealing secrets to the crowd. The well-crafted, respectable genjutsu strong enough to immobilize a jonin but not kill, followed by the underhanded, brutal, knockout punch of the 38th level of the illusion. Genma had specified no dirty fighting and Indra’s taijutsu and kenjutsu had been scrupulously fair, but that last illusion…

Kakashi knew, deep in his bones, it meant that either the man was as big a pervert as himself, or had known someone who was. Fighting like that wasn’t just dirty, it was filthy enough to belong to the genjutsu equivalent of a drunken alley brawl at 2 AM. Someone who could do that in one area of combat, could do it in any area of combat they possessed. Because it wasn’t just that it was a perverted jutsu, he knew those existed. There were areas of Naruto’s neighborhood which specialized in such things. It was the one-two knockout combo of genuine emotion and pain, with a joke hidden underneath. He had always known to look underneath the underneath, it was a maxim he drilled into new Anbu agents, but he’d grown used to jokes covering up emotional anguish. They were shinobi, that was how they coped. To see the opposite had thrown him, genuinely taken all the pieces of the Mysterious Indra Uchiha puzzle and scattered them in the air, just when he’d almost made sense of the man.

He said this, or something like it, to his Hokage, and the old man looked at him with weary eyes. “A surplus puzzle piece…” muttered the Sandaime. “A piece from some other puzzle, from some other life? Some other person? Some other village?”

“There’s too much missing sir,” said Kakashi. “Too much he could be lying about, or twisting. Everything fits perfectly, until it doesn’t. It’s a careless, ridiculous move for a spy, no matter his loyalty. It’s thumbing your nose at the exploding tag attached to your face.”

The Hokage lit his pipe and leaned back in his chair silently. It was just the two of them for the moment, late afternoon sunlight streaming in through the windows and heating the room. Kakashi continued ranting.

“Much of what he has said is ridiculous, fantastical, even. He came to us from a sealing jutsu or some unknown space-time jutsu, nearly dead from exhaustion and blood loss, made the most conspicuous arrival he could have possibly made short of riding up to the gates on the back of a biju. He tells us he had an eye that could see the future and gives us pages and pages of intelligence we now have to spend the next five months verifying just in case a single scrap is true! He says there’s a rogue Uchiha with a plan to do-“

He waved his hands in the air. “Something with the Moon and a huge chakra monster. Something out of ancient legends or heavy psychotropic drugs.”

“And yet,” said the Hokage, “he believes every word of what he says.”

Kakashi continued. “From his genjutsu, it seems he is quite good at letting honest feelings do dishonest work. He showed me something that pained him, so that he could take advantage of my vulnerability, instead of the other way ‘round. I thought we’d need Inoichi to get him to show us any of his cards at all, but he’s already laid them out freely. Dead family, regrets, a sense of responsibility, a history with an Uzumaki.”

The Hokage caught his eye and held it, _Hitting a little too close to home?_ The look asked.

Kakashi had to look away, but the Hokage pressed his attack.

“Inoichi trusts him. He allowed us into his mind when we caught him trying to construct a false identity and admitted his deception. Whatever he said to Danzō has the man tighter than a plucked bowstring, and I’ve never seen Danzō upset without a reason.”

Kakashi was curt. “You know my feelings on the Councilor, Sir.”

“Hmm.”

The Hokage was no longer looking at him, but instead at the curl of pipe smoke drifting around the ceiling. Kakashi wondered if he saw anything there the rest of them failed to see. Even after all the horrible decisions, all the mistrust, the consequences, he was still the Sandaime Hokage. Kakashi trusted him despite the rows of the Village’s dead that could be laid at his feet. Of course, Kakashi’s pile of bodies was only slightly smaller, and far more painful. On that note…

Kakashi took a deep breath. “Sir, I would like to submit my resignation from the Anbu Black Ops and rejoin the standard jonin forces, starting next week.”

Now the Hokage was paying attention. “Oh, really? You attempted to resign once before Kakashi, and I refused you. What has changed?”

It took effort, but Kakashi met his superior’s eyes instead of burying them in an Icha Icha book. “I have heard some of my colleagues discuss my familiarity with Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki and agree with them it is unprofessional for an Anbu agent. However, I feel my continued presence in their lives will be of mutual benefit and would allow for further examination of Indra Uchiha in a non-professional context.”

The Hokage took another draft of his pipe but still said nothing, so Kakashi continued to press his case. “Last time we spoke, I was…irrational. I had let my emotions get the better of me, but this time I know my departure from the Anbu is based on a sober consideration of my own needs and the needs of the mission, which have begun to diverge. I still wish to protect Naruto, but do not think the best place to do that is from behind an Anbu mask. That is why, with your permission, I would like to resubmit my resignation from the Anbu Black Ops.”

“Granted.”

Only Kakashi’s long years of training prevented his shoulders from slumping in relief. “Thank you sir, I will inform Councilor Danzō as well and have the forms filled out by Monday.”

“I will expect written reports if you discover anything new from this Indra Uchiha, of course. And for you to uphold standards of professionalism as a jonin, even with your retirement from the Anbu.” The Hokage pointed his pipe stem at Kakashi in a warning. “I am not letting you off the hook Kakashi Hatake. Rather, I am giving you the latitude you desire to fully complete your mission. Take this opportunity and use it wisely.”

“Of course, sir. Thank you sir. Your generosity is appreciated.”

Hiruzen waved his hand in dismissal, and that was Kakashi’s cue to leave. He bowed and left the office.

______________________________

Kakashi found Indra Uchiha sitting on top of the Konoha Hospital’s water tower, in a lotus position, with his eye closed. He made no sign he was aware of Kakashi’s presence and the jonin took the opportunity to look at the man again. The man had replaced his shredded clothes with good quality, shinobi materials. The dark blue cloak would aid night movement and was treated against rain and fire alike, as were the pants. A long-sleeved light purple shirt, soaked in the Konoha humidity was drying in the wind. His white vest had been folded under him to cushion the metal of the water tower. 

A particularly strong gust of wind pushed the man’s long hair back and Kakashi saw the naked hole in the man’s face. It had been months and the medics had cleared him for discharge, but there was something slightly off about the hole, besides its existence. He stood in silence as the thought danced just beyond his reach. Something purple.

Indra broke the silence first, his eye still closed, corner of his mouth twitching upward. A friendly greeting.

“Good evening Kakashi.”

Kakashi mumbled back a greeting, but the man didn’t react in any way. He seemed to be casting about, how sensory-types or Hyuga closed their eyes to sharpen their other senses, but Kakashi could feel no chakra activity from him.

“Feel no shame Kakashi.”

“I’m a jonin, we don’t do shame.”

“That jutsu made a Goddess fall, once. Or,” he frowned. “It will. It may? Someone had to have written a book on tenses for this situation. Or they will write it?” Indra waved away the thought. “You wish to speak with me?”

“Only to complain you’re a puzzle none of us can figure out, Indra-san. Look, you’ve given me all these grey hairs!”

“Your hair was already grey, Kakashi. What you meant was you remain uncertain if you can trust me.”

Kakashi sat down on the edge of the tower and pulled out his faithful Icha Icha, but Indra still did not open his eye. “Your lies and your truths are so mixed I doubt even you know which are which. I know what you showed me was true, because it felt real. Show me more, and then, I’ll call you comrade.”

At that, Indra did open his eye, which regarded Kakashi for a long moment, before the man nodded slightly. “You get two memories, if you don’t mind another genjutsu.”

Kakashi flicked to another page. “No guidance, no table of contents, no Once Upon a Time?”

“No.”

“Figures.”

They were silent as Kakashi thought, but while his eyes were unfocused on Icha Icha, Indra simply stared at the Hokage Mountain. He’d spoken with those stone faces once before, lost and deeply confused about his purpose in life, before they’d all thrown themselves headlong into a war against two insane Uchiha. And here he was, facing down that war again, just as lost and uncertain.

Not in himself, because he knew his purpose and conviction were ironclad. He would protect the Hidden Leaf Village, the entire shinobi world just as Itachi had done, from the shadows if necessary. His fear stemmed from twin sources but rested on the same question of fatherhood.

The Naruto, Sakura, and above all Sasuke of this time knew he existed, and he’d already seen the beginnings of the bond that had forged the three of them into the strongest shinobi of the Elemental Nations. Sasuke wanted to know him, to know another Uchiha who could teach him how to defeat Itachi. That was the stated reason, but Indra knew his younger self was terribly, desperately lonely. However, Sarada’s last words to him had shaken him to the core. She’d denounced him as a horrible, absent father and he knew he’d failed. Indra saw how his daughter had grown to coldly distance herself from him even as he assumed they’d filled that gap long ago. Now he saw what he’d thought to be comfortable silences during dinner as isolation, his frequent travels as running away from a home he’d hadn’t known how to build. He and Sakura had worked hard during the divorce to make it as easy and understandable for their daughter as possible, but the damage might have already been done. Knowing this, could he involve himself in the lives of others again? Could he leave himself open to be hurt like that? Could he-

“Hey, Indra-san!”

He blinked, focusing back in on the spot where the stone face of the Ninth Hokage would be. Had been?

“You got lost there, still going to offer me those memories? I’ve got a few ideas.”

Kakashi again. Indra let out a breath a shade too close to a sigh, but nodded. “What memories did you have in mind?”

Kakashi’s own visible eye gazed at his own coolly. “First, show me the memory of what’s made you so supposedly loyal to the Hidden Leaf. Show me why I should trust you.”

Indra nodded and brushed his hair back from his eye. “If you’re ready.”

“Go.”

The Sharingan flared and the water tower spun away, to be replaced by a sunset sky, the barest traces of cliffs and trees at the edges of vision. _The illusion was from Indra’s point of view all those years ago in the Final Valley. The illusion turned to the side where his arm was gone, leaking blood._

_“Do you get it now?”_

_A man in a shredded netting undershirt was bleeding out too, and his bright blue eyes looked exhausted underneath his short red hair. “See, if you move, the wound will open up, and we’ll both bleed to death.”_

_Indra’s voice spoke next. “I don’t understand why you still stand in my way…Everyone else tried to cut their bonds with me, but you…You never did. Why are you so determined to stay involved with me?”_

_The man chuckled weakly. “How many times do I have to tell you? Because we’re friends. You can’t explain something like that with words, but whenever I’d see you try to carry everything on your shoulders like that, it…hurts. It hurts so bad that I just can’t ignore you.” The light dimmed as the Indra of the past passed out._

“Is this it?” asked Kakashi from somewhere in the jutsu.

“Not yet, we were both in and out from blood loss. This is daybreak.”

_The viewpoint opened on the same sky, now the robin’s egg blue of a crisp morning. The other man was speaking again._

_“-guess it was too soon for you to move! I was hoping I could punch you to wake up.”_

_The past Indra laughed. “You still want to fight?”_

_The man bared his teeth. “Of course I do! I’ll fight you as many times as it takes!-“_

_“I accept it.”_

_“Huh?_

_“I lost.”_

_A grin spread across the other man’s face before he began an old familiar argument, picked up as if it had never ended. “You idiot, it’s not about winning or losing at all! My friend was sulking, so I thought I’d punch him to wake him up that’s all!”_

The voices continued, but faded away as the landscape of sky, rock, and bleeding men dissipated like morning mist.

Indra and Kakashi were back on top of the water tower, the faces of the Hokage Monument looming in the distance. Kakashi took a step back and consulted his Icha Icha book. He hadn’t expected the man to be quite so honest, but the genjutsu had been more than just images and words.

Some of Indra’s emotions had leaked into the illusion. Loss, yes, but surprise, gratitude, comfort, and above all, a deep, swelling love for the man in that vision. Whoever he’d been, likely the Uzumaki that Inoichi’s reports mentioned, they’d been more than friends. Comrades certainly. If the relationship went deeper, well, this was a line of thought that led in the direction of feelings, which Kakashi avoided like Inuzuka avoided baths. He found his voice.

“Your friend…he seemed awfully devoted to you. Enough to lose an arm. What were you trying to do, that caused such a battle?”

Indra had turned away, facing the monument, but Kakashi could read the tenseness in the shinobi’s shoulders. “I thought I could do it all on my own, that to be strong, to keep the peace, I could work alone. I thought that I didn’t need him. He showed me that I was wrong, that I’d been denying myself a life out of fear. Fear of what could happen if I allowed myself to live a life, not as a weapon, or tool to keep the peace.”

He turned back to Kakashi with a slight grin on his face. “Just the memory helped keep my head on straight, when I was about to make the same mistake all over again.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. Ready for that next memory?”

Indra nodded.

“Show me the worst day of your life. Should be pretty obvious.”

“I would, but…Something happened just before I came here that might take that spot. It’s too soon.”

Kakashi cocked his head. “Sounds like you’re dodging the question. Show me where you were, the night of the Massacre.”

Indra’s heart sank, but his face remained implacable. Kakashi obviously wanted to know about the Uchiha Massacre, which was now tied with that last battle in the rain of Uzushio as the worst day of his life. More betrayal, loss, and death was too close to the surface, too raw. But…Kakashi hadn’t specified which massacre, and the War with the Otsutsuki had seen plenty of them. Indra was going to have to get used to these lies of omission, keep digging himself into this hole. That didn’t mean he had to like it, it had the whiff of Itachi’s own obsessive need for secrecy and control.

“Fine. I suppose a warning would be redundant.”

Kakashi’s now visible Sharingan locked with his own and the genjutsu spiraled into existence.

_Dark trees rushing past at tremendous speed, Indra was hurling himself through the forests on the outskirts of the Leaf Village. He’d received Sai’s ink hawk two hours ago and made all speed to the small cluster of buildings with the Uchiha crest hanging from windowsills or doorway lanterns._

_An old outpost filled with non-Uchiha servants or family friends ,a far less visible place for Sarada to hide. His daughter had drawn in a small coterie of both ninja and civilians to help enlarge the Uchiha clan and Indra had reluctantly given his assent. He hadn’t had the stomach, nor the interest in women to “rebuild the Uchiha clan” but Sarada had taken to the genetic conundrum with a scientist’s fascination and a professor’s love of detail work. Hiding here was a way for her to temporarily escape her Kage responsibilities and prevent a decapitation strike like had occurred in Cloud._

_The trees opened up into the outskirts and Indra skidded to a halt. Two bodies lay atop the red torii gate, gore staining the road beneath, but they still clutched their kunai in death grips. He noted, with a sick fascination, their heads were missing. He burst back into a full sprint down the streets, sword in his hand without a conscious thought, lightning chakra already running down the blade._

_More bodies, some in the streets, some in alleyways, two halfway under a porch they had thought to hide behind. No heads anywhere. The route normally would have called for a right turn, around Mrs. Hamashida’s house, with its sturdy oak door. Indra’s sword carved it in two and a leap carried him through the window beyond to a short fence, behind which lay Sarada’s house/research laboratory._

_The back door was ripped from its hinges as Indra stormed through the dark, empty rooms, his eyes points of red and purple glowing in the dark. No overturned furniture, no craters in the roof or floor from Sarada’s Wrathful Dragon blows. A good sign, followed by bad._

_A body lay upright against a doorway. Indra dove to his knees, hand checking the body for the small scars Sarada had accumulated like most shinobi had. His own Sharingan had memorized each new one when she’d shown them off proudly and when she’d simply gained too many to comment on a new one._ _The thin white line from a Grass-nin’s shuriken she’d snatched out of the air was not on the body’s hand. The splash of a chemical burn on her ankle wasn’t there either. Indra breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself to look at her head, which was mercifully still attached. Not Sarada, or a Sharingan user, then. Likely just a maid or, given Sarada’s hiring record, a graduate student from the Mist’s Genetic Preservation School._

_Not assuaged, he tore through the house, but found no one else. No broken bookshelves, not an inkling that the assailants or their puppet-slaves had been there. Frustration and fear finally boiled over as a purple ribcage and arm launched him out into the night._

_“Sarada, where are you? Saradaaa!”_

The scene faded and Kakashi stepped back. “Well, that was-“

The attempt at levity fell flat, so Kakashi just stood there in silence. Indra’s face looked a little older, more lined by what he’d seen again. Obito’s Sharingan confirmed that though it had been a genjutsu, the man had not been lying. The emotions of fear, worry, self-recrimination, and slowly building anger had been real. The place itself, Kakashi was familiar with from his own genin days. It had been an area for the non-Uchiha who’d served the clan to live, alongside some of the black sheep of the family or the divorced. Obito had lived there and even though there were perhaps only four out of fifty who’d possessed Sharingan, they’d been slaughtered in the Massacre all the same. Indra could have very well arrived before the Anbu had and been on his way before the Leaf ninja would have noticed him. The main compound had been full of bodies and it had taken half an hour for them to find Sasuke, when he’d been lying in the middle of the road. And the heads…

Kakashi would never forget that sight, even if he hadn’t possessed a Sharingan. The main branch compound had been conventional kills, but the outlying houses had gradually built up to a level of truly psychotic mutilation. Itachi lost more and more control as the killing went on, or perhaps his loathing for the main branch only redoubled on its less fortunate attendants. The Psych Department was still unsure. Either way, the stories matched.

“Your daughter?”

“She survived. Wasn’t in the area when it-“ a pause as Indra chose his words. “He came through.”

“And now?”

Indra’s voice was thick with emotion. “Gone.”

Kakashi let the statement hang for a while in the air between them.

“I appreciate you showing those memories to me. Now, any particular reason you were so honest with me, when you’ve been as cryptic as a puzzle cube to Lord Third?”

Indra shrugged. “I could say that a ninja like Hatake Kakashi knows enough about regrets and comrades that I could be honest with him. I could say that a long time ago, he taught me a valuable lesson and helped me meet an Uzumaki I fell in love with. I could say that from the day I crossed paths with him, he’s been an enormous pain in my ass.”

“Maa, maa,” protested Kakashi sliding his headband back down. “I don’t remember any of this, and I certainly don’t remember you. When did I become such a pivotal figure for a lost Uchih-“

He stopped and cleared his throat.

“I haven’t met any Uzumaki like that man, or you.”

“A Hound doesn’t notice the rabbits that get away. Just the ones it catches.”

“Were you an enemy of Konoha?”

“No, just…in the vicinity. Wandering took me to distant shores. Odd jobs, bandit hunting. I was one of dozens, you’d never have noticed.”

Kakashi gave his Icha Icha book a longing look but tucked it back into his pocket. “Nice to know my reputation and sterling habits have preceded me.”

Indra gave a small smile. “Even the leader of the Akatsuki knows who you are.”

“Well, that’s a comforting thought.”

“They know me by now, so you’re not alone on that front. Uchiha, Uzumaki, they’re interested in a great many people.”

Kakashi felt a chill go down his spine. “That’s why you came back? Why you fell out of that portal on top of Sasuke!?”

“Not intentionally, but yes.”

Indra remembered the man he loved, hands clasped in a crumbling arena, facing Otsutsuki scouts, glowing like a star. “I’m here to protect them. Protect them all. I owe it to my friend and it’s…It’s the last thing my daughter asked me to do. Will you help me?”

Kakashi looked out at his old sensei’s stone face. _I will not allow my comrades to die. That is absolute._

“I will. Again, your honesty is surprising, but appreciated. You’d like my friend Guy.”

Indra looked slightly sick. “On that cheery note, it’s time I went home.”

“Where to?”

“The Uchiha District, presumably.”

“Well, that’s the cheeriest you’ve looked since you fell into a sandbox.”

___________________

Kakashi was following him still and it was making Indra’s paranoia twitchy and nervous, even when the man had just agreed to help him. They took the quick route, leaping across the rooftops and walls as Indra readjusted to the Konoha he dimly remembered from his childhood, before his desertion and Pain’s obliteration of the village.

“It’s a strange thing,” he admitted to his shadow, “to be somewhere you belong and not recognize it.”

Kakashi made a noncommittal noise behind his mask. “Take a few missions, get to know people. You’ll fit in. I did.”

They continued on in silence until Kakashi spoke again as they passed over the main thoroughfare. “Naruto and Sasuke will probably have dinner ready for us.”

Indra shot a look over his shoulder and gestured for Kakashi to run next to him instead of behind. “You make it sound like there are more occupants of the Uchiha District than just Sasuke.”

“Just Naruto, he moved in at Sasuke’s urging last month. Something about honoring an agreement and nightmares, I didn’t catch the details.”

Indra thought back to his own time with Team Seven. “Are they driving each other crazy?”

“It’s a wonder they haven’t killed each other yet, but Sakura, Cat, and I have kept them occupied with one thing or another.”

“They have been busy then. Who’s Cat?”

“With me on their Anbu guard detail which will probably end soon, seeing as how you’re trustworthy and not a madman or spy.”

They landed in the road and looked at the walls of the Uchiha District, the blue-tiled roofs gleaming in the moonlight. “What’s kept them busy?” asked Indra to cover his nervousness as they approached the barrier. It was keyed to only allow Uchiha or specially added chakra signatures past its barrier and he wasn’t sure how it would react to what was technically a perfect copy of Sasuke. He forced his breath to remain even and took a step forward. There was an instant of resistance, like walking through slime, or the hospital’s lemon jello, but then the barrier acquiesced, and he stepped through. Kakashi chattered about weapons training, going on about his work on staff techniques with Naruto and Cat’s lessons on the Crescent Moon Dance, but Sasuke was only half listening. The Uchiha District loomed around him; ghosts of his old life thick in the air like flies.

_Waving hello to his Auntie before school. The Massacre and the horrible discovery. The stores and apartment buildings reconstructed over the area after Pain’s Almighty Push obliterated what remained behind. Sarada’s reinvigoration of the district as a hub for new families and genetics centers to rejuvenate the Uchiha lineage based on two surviving genetic bases. The Otsutsuki’s initial rampage through the Leaf, which he’d shown Kakashi. The final, devastating attack that had levelled the village once more and sent Sakura’s crazy, desperate plan into action. Sarada, ponytail plastered to her back in the rain, begging him to be a better man._

He cleared his throat and Kakashi was sensible enough to pretend ignorance as he wiped at his eye. They’d arrived. Indra took a long look at the home of his childhood, light spilling out from the windows and doors as he and Kakashi stood outside in the dark. The jonin put a hand on his shoulder, which surprisingly enough did make Indra feel slightly better. “You ready?”

“Are any of us ever ready?”

Kakashi had nothing to say to that, so Indra forged ahead and knocked on what was technically his own front door. It opened to reveal Naruto Uzumaki, whose face brightened, and he called back over his shoulder. “Hey, Sasuke! Kakashi-sensei and Indra-san are here, how’ we doin’?”

“Three minutes, the scallions still have to sear!”

Indra stepped inside and removed his shoes and cloak absently as he took in his surroundings. The house he’d remembered had been scrupulously neat, but rarely entirely used, mostly ignored in favor of the few rooms he’d used for living or training. This house was messy, likely Naruto’s doing, with extra sandals piled in the corner and scrolls spread across the floor or tucked next to couch pillows. A stack of wooden swords was tucked against the back wall alongside a few kunai, and the surfaces had been dusted regularly. The clatter of dishes as well as the smell of meat and broth percolated through the air and the new arrivals inhaled appreciatively. This house looked lived in. Indra smiled and moved towards the kitchen. “Anything a one-armed man can do to help?”

Naruto thrust a series of chopsticks and napkins at him. “You can set the table, it’s to the right, through the kitchen, okay?”

A scandalized “Naruto, that’s supposed to be your job!” came from the kitchen, to which Naruto stuck out his tongue. “He wanted to help, Sasuke, so let him help! Why can’t I do stuff in the kitchen?”

“I’ve seen what you call cooking, no thanks! Go pick up those scrolls, I don’t want soup dripping onto twenty-year-old jutsu records!”

Naruto scrambled to comply, grumbling all the while and Indra leaned against the kitchen door to observe. Sasuke had tied a white cloth to his head to corral his unruly hair and was moving back and forth between several steaming dishes. “What’re we having?”

“Kitsune udon, had to use up the scallions, and Naruto thought it would be funny.”

He shrugged, attempting to be casual and failing miserably. “Welcome home, I guess.”

Indra resisted the urge to pat his younger self on the head and settled for a thumbs up with the silverware. “I’m home then. Let’s get started.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke's whole thing of "I'm going to restore the Clan" runs into a bit of a speed bump because a) that boy's gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide and b) he only has the one daughter in Sarada. She, I think, would take the scientist's approach to enlarging the Uchiha Clan and would enjoy the challenge, as she's got her mother's scientific aptitude and drive. Sarada's Wrathful Dragon taijutsu style combines traditional Uchiha Fire affinity with the close combat striking power of her mother, creating something similar to the Twin Lion Fist technique, but able to be launched forward with a punch and a much bigger AoE on impact. Yes, I'm creating techniques for characters who are barely in this story, I'm sorry.
> 
> I'll get more into the details of what happened with the Future Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, but this is very much NOT a character-bashing fic. Life doesn't have happy endings and while I disagree with where everybody ended up hitched in Boruto, it's not altogether out of the question. It's a harsh truth that sometimes people want to think things are ok when they really aren't, especially when there's a post-war population boom.


	23. Meditating on the Future Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra remembers the mistakes he'd made when he was Sasuke Uchiha and confronts the hateful legacy of the Uchiha Clan

Indra allowed himself to sigh in relief as he sank down into a comfortable bed. Despite his recuperation, the early sparring and later genjutsu explanation with Kakashi had taken more out of him than he’d thought. He was just glad he didn’t ache as much as a 65-year old man should, a fortunate side effect of time travel, apparently. A small part of him remembered that this had been his parent’s bed originally, but it was warm and soft, so Indra Uchiha quietly released the Hidden Mind Jutsu and sank into sleep.

He opened his eyes on the other side of the Dream and once again found himself inside his own mind. The forest and swamp were gone, but the moon over the lake still shone and he could see the crags of his mountain beyond it. Inoichi had been right, it was a peaceful, beautiful place. Sasuke wandered out onto the lake and entered the lotus pose, floating on the surface of the water in unconscious imitation of the Sage of Six Paths. With all the emotional turmoil he’d been going through and the piecemeal sharing of his private moments, some restful introspection would be a wise use of his time. He closed his eyes and breathed the fresh air in deeply. In his time, industrialization had led to the rapid development of most of the Hidden Villages until they were neither hidden nor villages, but rather, obvious cities that still produced shinobi. The names still stuck, out of tradition, if nothing else.

Sasuke thought through the many lies he had told among his truths and examined each one. Yes, he wanted to protect his clan and right the wrongs caused by Obito and Itachi. He wanted to protect and guide his younger self, as well as Naruto and Sakura. As Hashirama Senju so often said, there was always conflict, no matter the era, but he wanted to spare them the harshest ones. Even if upon learning the truth, the younger Sasuke refused to stay in the Hidden Leaf, he would have an experienced and emotionally stable uncle to guide him and friends he could turn to for advice. A reformed Sound Village could be another refuge, or perhaps the Hidden Rain, depending on if Nagato could be persuaded by someone other than Naruto Uzumaki. The Sasuke of this time would have options, better by far than leaping headlong into Orochimaru’s clutches, for sure.

Yes, the Akatsuki were a threat to the ninja world and needed to be destroyed. Whether Obito could be talked down was irrelevant, because first he would need to be captured, and someone with permanent access to a space-time ninjutsu like Kamui would be very difficult to capture in the first place. An openly emotional appeal wouldn’t work, but Sasuke could gradually chip away at his vulnerabilities to break his resolve, or at least unbalance him enough to make mistakes. Mistakes Sasuke would use to ensure the Ten-Tails never clawed its way out of oblivion again. Without the Ten-Tails, Kaguya, or the God Tree, hopefully the devastation and slaughter of his future would never come to pass.

Thoughts of his future brought Sasuke back to his own relationships. As Sarada had said, he had failed in many respects. His distant relationship with Sakura had started as he sought to understand the feelings inside himself and needed someone else to hear them. Someone who wasn’t Naruto Uzumaki. Not that he couldn’t trust Naruto, but Sasuke was aware that he loved the man so much, rational thought would be impossible. Naruto was a gravity well that drew Sasuke inexorably closer, so in an attempt to be honest, he had traveled instead with Sakura. He had never understood how she still carried a torch for him after all these years and his many crimes, but she was loyal and willing to listen.

So, over months, then the course of a year travelling around the continent, he told her everything. He told her about the Uchiha, what the village had done, why he stayed away even now. He told her about his own feelings of failure and fear, about never measuring up to Itachi, then never killing him, now never being able to live up to his memory. How she and Naruto still had faith in him, despite everything, and how that in turn gave him hope that he could, in fact, be redeemed. How he feared what the future could bring him, if all it had brought him so far had been tinged with tragedy and pain. He feared the end of the clan if he should die, all the good and all the evil alike, now dust on the wind. Sasuke poured his heart out to Sakura and incredibly she understood. She told him her story in turn. They understood each other, perhaps for the first time since Team Seven had formed. She still travelled with him, never complaining, always willing to search out the next trafficking ring or rogue ninja.

Sasuke had never learned what romantic love was. Karin had made pass after pass, but both of them knew it would never work, so they stayed harmless flirts, little in-jokes that continued for years, even as she settled down and somehow married Suigetsu, despite the fact they still bickered just as much. Hell, even he’d slept with Suigetsu once or twice, but it had only been exploratory or need-driven sex. Two lonely shinobi curled together as the world grew darker around them. He’d never had a real relationship, where he brought someone flowers, or went out to dinner, or they shared sappy remarks and kissed in public. Nothing like that. Sometimes, Sasuke thought he’d been broken so deeply, at such a fundamental level, that feeling that way for anyone was impossible for him. He’d nearly given up on himself, even as he grew to realize how deeply Sakura did in fact care for him.

Was this it? Was this swelling feeling of affection, appreciation, respect, and quiet contentment what love was? At the time, Sasuke had thought so. He’d read through several romance novels (stakeouts were boring) from Sakura’s luggage, and they all seemed to agree. He didn’t have the firey, declarative passion he thought he would have, but then, Sasuke hadn’t been emotionally open since the age of seven. So he acquiesced when Sakura took them on detours to restaurants in little towns, to hot springs, to the sorts of places romance novels liked to write about. When she stowed her sleeping bag and climbed into his, he thought it was what they both wanted, that of course it was love, stupid. The sex wasn’t as pleasurable as the romance novels said it would be, but that wasn’t a surprise as much as it was a deep embarrassment for both of them. Sakura was a doctor, and could play the human body like an instrument, but that didn’t mean either of them were naturally gifted. Pleasing someone else was something you had to learn, over and over again, and no matter how many times they practiced, it never quite seemed to work. At the time, and after Sarada’s birth, they’d both put it down to nerves, but it was one of the signs they both overlooked.

When they’d realized Sakura was pregnant, the joy and fear Sasuke felt erased any doubts that this wasn’t love. It felt like a new sun had earthed itself in his chest, like he was glowing every second of every day. He wouldn’t have to be the Last Uchiha. He no longer had to be alone. Boy or girl, this child would have a future, and Sasuke and Sakura set to their preparations for a new life with all the determination and precision two veteran ninja were known for. This was thrown off when Sakura had refused to stop travelling with him, and he refused to return to the Leaf. She wanted their family to stay together and Sasuke wasn’t sure if he wanted his family in the Hidden Leaf at all. This was perhaps the second sign all was not well, because now there were arguments. Both of them were stubborn, uncompromising ninja, and the arguments went around and around, on all manner of subjects. Excess emotions were vented on crumbling boulders or unlucky trees, but pregnancy was supposed to be stressful wasn’t it?

When it turned out they’d argued or travelled too long, and that Sakura’s water had broken, everything else had been cast aside in the mad dash to find the nearest doctor. Sakura was an extremely gifted medical ninja with a high pain tolerance, but managing her own premature childbirth was another thing altogether. The memory of a vast purple-armored behemoth plowing through the countryside, with Sakura clinging to him and cursing the Uchiha, herself, and every living thing in ten kilometers, would stay with him for the rest of his days. In one of the most terrifyingly surreal experiences of his life, for Orochimaru and Karin had helped Sakura deliver the baby while Sasuke paced up and down outside the delivery room. That had been another strong point in the snake’s favor, but the fear he had felt then, unable to see what the Sannin was doing to his wife and child, caused him to cleave through one or two rock walls in frustration. But Karin had been adamant.

“Let us work and stay out of our way, Sasuke. Orochimaru knows what he’s doing, and I’ll make sure your baby is safe, I promise.”

That promise alone had stayed his hand and kept him anywhere close to steady for the hours and hours they waited outside. Well, that and Jugo’s restraining arms, in a surreal inversion of their normal dynamic. But it was all worth it when the cursing stopped, and a tiny voice began to wail. The moment he’d first held his daughter in his arms, Sasuke felt sure he’d made the right decision.

And it was the right decision, Sasuke was still sure of that. Even with all the acrimony and heartbreak that followed, even with Sarada’s last bitter words still ringing in his mind, Sasuke still did not regret this. Bringing Sarada Uchiha into the world had been a good thing, a beautiful thing. Even if she hadn’t become the Ninth Hokage, even if she’d taken the Haruno name instead, the world was a better place with her in it. With her, Sasuke first knew, in his bones, what true, unconditional love was. Unfortunately, that was also when he realized he did not have that same love for Sakura.

He didn’t abandon them, he wasn’t a complete tool. He stayed in the Leaf Village, taking no missions, no greater purpose beyond raising his daughter. He stayed for four years, until she could walk and talk and play on her own. He made sure she had memories of him, good memories, of trips to the bookstore or down the street to play with other children, including Boruto. Memories of sitting on his lap with a sippy cup and a stuffed elephant and oh, how it all ached now. The love and trust that shone from those memories bumped up against the disappointment and mistrust she’d shown him thirty-five years later and the happy memories were ripped in half.

Sasuke sank beneath the water of his soul and didn’t bother to swim. The memories came faster now. Before Sasuke had travelled with Sakura, the wrenching pain in his chest he’d felt when learning of Naruto’s marriage to the Hyuga heiress…That should have been another sign. His silent avoidance of the wedding and a hawk-delivered “Congratulations” should have been another. How, the moment he’d left the village, and his family for the first time, his heart leapt to be back on the open road. His non-answers when years later Sarada had confronted him and asked about Karin. So many signs things were heading in the wrong direction, but they’d both refused to accept it. Sakura, because she was finally with someone she still thought she loved, and Sasuke, because he refused to admit their happiness was built upon unstable foundations. That he loved Naruto Uzumaki, and not her. Not the way she thought he did, not the way she wanted to be loved.

They both held on, for Sarada’s sake above all else, for as long as they could. Two years after her chunin exams, as the Jigen Otsutsuki scare finally wound down, after two bottles of wine and alone together at their kitchen table, they both admitted their marriage wasn’t going to work anymore. She wanted more than he could give her, and he couldn’t fake it any longer.

What surprised them both about it was that neither of them was actually surprised. Or even all that angry. Another point in favor of divorce, really. If they’d both felt strongly about each other, then there would have been fights, screaming, feelings of betrayal or disappointment at the very least. Instead, there was just a quiet exhaustion, as if Sasuke and Sakura had known this was going to happen and were glad divorce was going to be easy after all. They both went to great lengths to keep the divorce amiable, respectable, and above all, understandable for Sarada. And the worst part was, up until his daughter had spat venom at him on a pouring, desperate night in Uzushio ruins, Sasuke really thought they had succeeded.

He’d taken more missions around and inside the Leaf Village, even D-Ranks, to stay near his daughter and be as supportive as possible, or to stay away if that’s what she wanted. Sasuke spent a great deal of time with Sai, who’d become something of an emotional translator for ex-Root agents, to communicate the whys and hows beyond all the assumptions they had made that sustained their marriage for fifteen years. Sakura had spoken with Ino, partly for emotional support, partly to make sure her best friend didn’t lock Sasuke’s mind into a trout, and together they explained the awful, painful truth. Sometimes love isn’t built to last. Sometimes, people think they’re in love and never realize the difference. Sometimes, living as someone you’re not is as exhausting as an S-Rank mission. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work. And they’d thought Sarada had acclimated well.

Sure, it was the catalyst for the awakening of her Mangekyo Sharingan, a beautiful Mobius-diamond pattern she almost never used, and sure, both of her parents had taken their fair share of crying rants, slammed doors, and chakra-enhanced punches to the face. But when Sarada saw how Sasuke’s face lit up when Naruto entered the house, when Sakura swept Ino off her feet and danced across the living room carpet singing for the first time in years, she had smiled and said she understood. She could never be fully happy, but she understood. And Sasuke had thought it had all gone so well. Just like the threat of the Otsutsuki, really. Everything is going well, the past put aside, right up until it isn’t. Because the past is a tricky thing and has a way of following you home, no matter how hard you try and lose it.

Sasuke had sunken deep into the lake by now. Deep enough that if this was the real world, he would have drowned halfway back to the surface. But he wasn’t in the real world, he was inside his own mind, so breathing was a strictly optional action. He opened his eyes and frowned, for dozens of thick spiked chains were wrapped around his body and extended, taught as bowstrings, into the darkness below him.

“Real clever Sasuke,” he muttered to himself. “Great metaphor for guilt and responsibility, really had to reach for that one, didn’t you?” Shaking his head at his own subconscious, he obligingly swam deeper, following the largest concentration of chains. “If I gain spiritual enlightenment at the end of this, does that unlock some new Sharingan power?” he mused, knowing the idea was laughable. “Do I just float free of all my problems and gain true flight like Naruto’s Six Paths form? Become a being of pure energy or whatever like the Sage?”

Such thoughts were deeply stupid, he knew. Even juvenile, making light of his failures and situation, but Sasuke had gone straight through the Curse of Madness and come out the other side, so in a sense he’d already hit rock bottom at the age of sixteen. To his slight surprise, Sasuke found as he dove deeper that the water became clearer, the direction of the chains more obvious. After a few more strokes, he found himself floating just under another surface, looking into the dream of his younger self once more. He took a moment to study it. Another nightmare, where his Mother was flying up and away from him on shadowy, blood-drenched wings, with a red-haired woman in her arms. A much younger Sasuke was crying out, some tear-soaked plea, but the barrier between his dream and his older self muffled the sound. Sasuke silently debated if entering this dream was a good idea, if knocking politely was even possible, if his experiences with Sarada had-

Something vast moved in front of the surface, obscuring Sasuke’s view of his younger self. His eye narrowed and he swam forward until he was inches away from the barrier. The vast shape moved again and Sasuke caught a glimpse of a flowing orange form before it blocked him again. _It can’t be…_ The shape turned and Sasuke saw teeth as long as a man and as sharp as scalpels bare themselves in a parody of a grin. Red slitted eyes swam into view above the mouth and Sasuke unconsciously shrank back. This hatred, this toxic power, the smell of forest fires, burnt meat and the apocalypse. He’d felt them before, the first time he’d battled Naruto. The Nine-Tails was out of its cage.

**Well, well, another Uchiha. And here I’d hoped you were all dead, more’s the pity.**

It snarled and even with this strange barrier between them, Sasuke could still hear it perfectly clearly.

**If you want to enslave me again with that repulsive Sharingan, you’ll find the Fourth Hokage’s Seal to be a devilishly tricky bit of business in that regard. For that alone, I may yet remain in these children until your ilk are ash on the wind. Now leave me to my work!**

The fox made to turn away but Sasuke found his voice. “What are you doing to the boy? What use is he to you if you’re bound inside an Uzumaki?”

Now the fox laughed, a deep and ugly thing, suggestive of carrion crows and jokes before a murder. **So many uses, none of which concern you, so either fight or flee back to slumber, I care little.** It breathed deeply then turned back to him, a calculating look crawling over its massive face. **Then again, you stink of sin as well. Cravenness, betrayal, murder, deception, homewrecking. Nothing unique, but so very fresh!** The thing actually licked its lips as Sasuke stared in horror. He’d never seen the Nine-Tails do anything, or say anything like this, and if he had, Naruto had never relayed it. **I might just consume your nightmares as well, once I’m done with my appetizer.** The Nine-Tails held up a single claw, upon which was the motionless body of the younger Sasuke, dangling by his shirt. That did it. Sasuke burst through the barrier with the sound of shattered glass and an oath of vengeance on his lips.

He landed on the hard wooden floor of the Uchiha dojo, which seemed both its normal size and impossibly large as the space stretched to accommodate the fox spirit. Sasuke drew his sword and felt his chakra rise along with his will. He’d fought the wilder, untamed Kyuubi only once, with one tail of chakra, and only Naruto’s mercy had kept it from killing him. To face its full power, in a mental space neither of them controlled but which Sasuke was loath to damage, was a daunting task. He could certainly save the boy, drive the Nine-Tails out of his-their shared mindspace, but at what cost? He could permanently damage himself, or the younger Sasuke to imbecility and the fox, as an inhuman chakra construct, would be no worse for wear. The fox lashed out at him and Sasuke backflipped away, retaliating with his sword on the riposte. The Nine-Tails hissed at the line of red that opened on its paw but the wound closed over as soon as it had opened and Sasuke doubted the same would happen for him if one of those claws found its mark. He had to stall while he came up with a plan, only question was if the Nine-Tails would play along.

“So what woke you up so early?” he asked, zig-zagging towards the beast and flinging lightning-enhanced shuriken in its direction that it ignored. “First time I saw you wake up, Naruto was in a towering rage fit to level a mountain. I’m noticing the landscape looks the same, so why lurk here?”

The biju lashed its tails in his direction, sending a tornado of cutting blades his way and followed it with a vicious bite. **The Uchiha boy’s very existence sparked anger in the runt and their fighting made me strong. Now, they sleep under the same roof and I can devour all the nightmares spawned by your cursed clan. All thanks to you, newcomer, you pathetic fool! When I get out, I’ll blind you first, but devour you last, so you have the privilege of hearing your district, and the Fourth Hokage’s damned village burn to the ground!**

Sasuke ran sideways, seeking to avoid the windstorm and leaped upwards, seeking the high ground as enormous teeth clashed together inches from his feet. He held his sword up and black fire crawled along its length. “I don’t want to hurt you, Lord Kurama, but you must release the boy!”

The fox froze, its hair standing on end as it withdrew and glared at him with surprise and deep suspicion. **How do you know that name? Not even Madara could have pried it out of me, if he’d ever bothered to ask. Where was it carved? That damned Uchiha tablet? I’ll crush it to dust!**

Sasuke had jumped to nearly chest height with the biju, but it wasn’t enough to allow the blow he had hoped for. As soon as his feet hit the ground be bent into a formal bow of deep respect. “Lord Gyūki sends his regards, Lord Kurama, but I came to apologize on behalf of my clan. I only ask that you release a small boy who has never participated in any action against you or your kin.”

**He’s an Uchiha, just as you are! More eyes, more ways to keep me bound, just like your damn First Hokage, just like everyone! Give me one reason I should release him.**

**“** Because if you devour his mind, Naruto will never free you. He will mourn his friend and devote every moment of his days to keeping you bound as tightly as he can manage. I’ve seen him fight alongside you and I in battles only the Tailed Beasts can compete in. He could and will set you all free one day, but if you destroy his friend, he will stop at nothing to deny you.”

The fox snorted and curled its tails in front of its body in a defensive gesture. **Pretty words from a silver, lying tongue. How can you possibly know what will happen, what the whelp would do?**

Sasuke grinned and tapped his empty eye socket. “I’ve seen the future, Lord Kurama, and bring you a warning as well as hope tonight. Believe me or not, I will say my piece and if you release they boy, we need never see each other again.”

Bared teeth spoke to how likely that would be, but Sasuke had to try. **Speak then, and begone. I have no patience for any mortal, least among them an Uchiha.**

With a worried glance at his still unmoving counterpart, Sasuke began to speak. He told the Nine-Tails of Madara and Obito’s mad plan, of Black Zetsu and his desire to bring back the Ten-Tails and Kaguya, which would mean the death of all the Tailed Beasts, sealed inside a monster for eternity, or devoured by cannibalistic, power-hungry Otsutsuki from the stars. At first his audience of one looked contemptuous, but as he spoke of the Sage’s worry for his mother’s return, and the names of each one of the Tailed Beasts Naruto had let slip over the years, the fox’s face became grave.

**Your warnings are grave, if they are to be credited with an ounce of truth, but unlikely. My brothers and sisters are all sealed tightly away to protect your precious human treaties and borders. No human, however depraved or patient, could unseal us in the manner you spoke of.**

“What if that human had the Rinnegan?”

If the Nine-Tails had been paying attention before, the creature’s entire vast psyche was focused on Sasuke now, and it felt like being slowly roasted alive. **Those eyes belonged to the Old Man and his brother alone! No one else! The sheer power would cause their brains to leak from their ears, their human chakra systems sucked dry to feed the Rinnegan’s power! You layer lies upon lies, Uchiha!**

“If that human was an Uzumaki?”

Kurama froze, eyes staring into the distance as it contemplated the horrible plausibility. **Perhaps. But only one in two hundred could even attempt to host such sacred eyes, and the Uzumaki were never that numerous. If you know this to be true, what is this cur’s name, so that I may obliterate his memory from every rock and scroll on the continent?**

Sasuke thought. If he played his cards right, the Tailed Beasts could unite before a single one of them was sealed inside the Gedo Statue and perhaps even take out Pain himself. But he thought of the Hidden Rain Village, one of the last surviving bastions during the Otsutsuki War, and a refuge for thousands upon thousands of orphaned or starving refugees. He thought about what he’d scribbled out on a piece of stationary a month earlier. Reunite Uzumaki. For all his crimes, Nagato was still trying to seek peace, and he’d already achieved it within the Land of Rain. He’d been in the same position himself, a boy lost and at the end of his rope, with special eyes, and Obito whispering in his ear, poisoning him against the Leaf Village and the entire shinobi system. His words had worked because many of them were true, but if Obito had not been there…The mono-eyed Uchiha shook his head. He would try to split the difference.

“This man is aware of the sacred duty those eyes carry and is trying his best to bring peace. But like I once was, he has been corrupted by a hateful Uchiha, whose black legacy you and I both now seek to erase from the world! If you won’t fight for me, for Naruto, for any human, then fight for Lord Hagoromo! For the future his eyes saw, for your siblings, who are now threatened by the same eyes that created them, for a future where you are free! I don’t know if you can reach the others from where you are inside Naruto, but you must try! The humans will not listen to me, but you know. You know what I say is the truth, despite your caution. So please, help me so that I can help you. Let the boy go.”

They stood there in silence for a long time, if time in fact passed inside an unconscious mind. Sasuke stood silently, feet planted, naked sword held at his side, dark eyes entreating the biju who had the most reason to loathe the Uchiha. Kurama held up the tiny figure of his counterpart between his claws and for a moment Sasuke was terrified the boy would be snuffed out just to spite him. Then the fox sniffed disdainfully and tossed the spirit in his direction. Sasuke sprinted forward, sword discarded as he slid to catch the boy in between one arm and a stump.

 **Like I said, a silver tongue for one of the Uchiha.** The tone made it clear it wasn’t a compliment. **If the risks are as large as you say, then I’ll see what I can do. The Old Man wouldn’t like his work being perverted like this, and neither do I. But,** the biju pointed one massive claw forward, stabbing Sasuke slightly in the chest, driving an inch or two in before withdrawing. **If you try to trick us, to use your damn Sharingan on any one of my siblings, no matter what reason, I will devour these children you care for so much and feed you the leftovers. Got it?**

Sasuke nodded, not trusting himself to speak further.

**And I still get to eat the boy’s nightmares. The Old Man gave me a purpose as well, and for now, this is the closest I’m gonna get.**

With a swish of tails, the fox turned on itself and was gone. The space around them shrank to normal proportions once more and the stench of toxic chakra lessened. His younger self slept on within his own mind and Sasuke gently lowered him to the dojo floor, then turned to where he had come from, where a watery shimmer remained. Almost looking forward to the water and heavy chains, he dove back in with a sigh of relief. Safe within his own dreaming mind, Sasuke finally allowed himself to breathe again, then remembered he was still underwater. Choking and resigning himself to a long swim to the surface, one thought still couldn’t help but stick in his mind. _That was way too close._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I had an editor/someone to bounce ideas off of because I agonized over this chapter. Kurama's up to some wickedness, of course, but more importantly, the readers get a clear snapshot of how the canon relationships in Boruto slowly fell apart. It wasn't anyone's fault, because circumstances, mistakes, and misunderstandings can all combine until there's no way out but forward, no matter how daunting a prospect that is. Post-war baby booms are a real thing and it does seem like many of the characters Kishimoto paired off in the end of Naruto were just pairings for pairing's sake. In universe though, it's because Sasuke's never had a healthy loving relationship in his life and thinks he knows what love is when he walks right by Naruto because the boy makes him feel Too Much. His relationship with Sakura needed to be repaired anyway and he fools himself into thinking that it's what he wants, and it's partially true. He does still love her, in a way, and his love for Sarada is never in doubt, but it's not the love she was looking for. 
> 
> The Naruto/Hinata ship, while I think it's perfectly fine, had so little buildup they had to do a movie for it, I mean c'mon. It's also in Naruto's character though that a love-deprived, recognition-hungry person would fall head-over-heels for the first person to say "I love you" to his face and mean it. That's why the Pain fight and Hinata's death really made him lose it and is to me one of the best moments in Naruto. Still, in Boruto, the man's hiding from his family by using the Hokage position and just looks so tired and worn out all the time, he's unhappy even when he's got everything he thinks he wants. Honestly, these characters deserve to be happy, and they're getting there one way or another. Indra's just going to do a little nudging to spare them the decade or so of heartbreak and quiet suffering. I'm expecting objections to how I've written these relationships, and I'd really like to hear if you think it's plausible or what you might change. 
> 
> Also, look out tonight-ish for the Mikoto/Kushina fic I promised I'd write. My 80's-90's Classics Playlist had me writing all day yesterday, so it should be good! The best romance is all about the pining and the setup, but I hope I've made the love feel "real". Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	24. Planting Trees You'll Never Get to See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra gives parenthood a second shot and gets some advice from an experienced ninja parent.

Indra’s sleep wasn’t very restful, but he woke up early anyway. He’d tossed and turned the rest of the night, drifting between the deep sleep that allowed him to truly rest in his subconscious, and the vague-half awareness of surroundings most ninja cat-napped in. He’d shrugged into Indra’s personality just like he’d shrugged into his pants and a thin undershirt to be presentable before wandering aimlessly around the space and adjoined bathroom. As he did, Indra remembered that this was his parent’s room, that he’d slept in his parent’s bed, and was once again in the house he’d grown up in. The bathroom was surprisingly clean, when part of Indra had expected a thick layer of dust, that Sasuke would never encroach on what had been his parent’s private space, but someone had taken the effort anyway and he was glad. There was a fresh-looking toothbrush and some supplies bunched together on the counter, as well as a razor and shaving cream. Possibly Kakashi, then. Sasuke wouldn’t think to add shaving supplies, he was still years away from puberty.

As Indra made his way through the hallways of a home he’d nearly forgotten about, yet somehow still remembered like the back of his hand, his thoughts kept drifting back to Sasuke, and to Sarada, comparing the two. His younger self had a great deal of emotional baggage to work through, an effort that, along with the inevitable Uchiha revelations, would probably take most of his teenage years to deal with. Indra knew how his younger self thought, was perhaps early enough to turn him away from the Path of Hatred, and would absolutely enlist Naruto and Sakura in that endeavor. On the other hand, considering his failures as a father with Sarada, he needed perspective, advice, and help from someone who wasn’t the walking disaster named Hatake Kakashi. Who would fit the bill?

Indra entered the kitchen and rustled through the cupboards as he thought. He would have to balance the serious-world missions needed to hunt down the Akatsuki and Orochimaru with being a supportive presence for the children and do so better than last time. He couldn’t afford to run away from emotional attachment, no matter how much more “efficient” it would be. The visual of Sarada’s rain-streaked, contemptuous gaze was reminder enough. It was very early, but perhaps he could-

“What are you looking for?”

Sasuke’s voice came from behind him and Indra didn’t bother to turn around. “Teakettle. You drink tea?”

“Not really. Kakashi said you’d want coffee in the mornings, most ninja do.”

Indra let out something that was half a sigh and half a huff of exasperation. “Coffee is a luxury when wandering the Elemental Nations, tea is much more accessible. I’ve seen ninja get addicted to coffee and go into withdrawal on long missions, not a pretty picture.”

He could _feel_ Sasuke scowl behind him. “You can’t get addicted to coffee.”

The “Mnhmm” that emerged from his throat was skeptical.

He searched for a few more minutes before Sasuke took pity on him. “It’s next to your knees, on the bottom left.” His younger self moved across the room and began removing vegetables from the fridge, throwing them into the already open blender. As Indra’s teakettle quickly heated up, the roar of the blender shattered the silence of the morning and Indra winced internally as Sasuke poured the resulting concoction into a tall glass and made to leave.

“No, come and sit.”

Sasuke turned and gave him a blank look, wondering where this was going. Indra crossed to the kitchen table and pulled out an inviting chair before sliding into his own, with his back to the wall and a commanding view of the space. Force of habit. He spoke again. “Kakashi mentioned you’d been training, and you said you wanted to spar. Indulge your new uncle.”

Something in Indra’s stomach twisted briefly as he prodded what he knew would be a sore spot for his younger self, but the guilt and training topic did the trick. Sasuke obligingly joined him and began sucking down his smoothie in silence. For once, Indra was going to have to be the talkative one in this relationship. “I heard you’ve been working with your Anbu guard, Cat-san, on sword techniques. What prompted this?”

Sasuke swallowed and stared into Indra’s one visible eye almost hidden behind the landscape of black hair and bandages. “Naruto and I got bored, and Kakashi was willing to train, Cat got dragged in to teach me the Crescent Moon Dance technique. She’s had me cutting sticks and doing basic form movements. It’s easy.”

Indra had absolutely no idea what the Crescent Moon Dance was. “Did she show you what the end result was, give you a demonstration?” Sasuke gave a short nod. “A combination of a genjutsu and a taijutsu technique to deceive the opponent reading your sword strikes. It could be helpful against-“

The pause was minute, barely there, but Sasuke continued anyways. “Itachi’s Sharingan.”

Indra’s teakettle whistled as the water boiled, so he broke eye contact to attend to it. He was going to lead Sasuke into this conversation, but the boy had brought it up first. “You’re young, but already preparing to kill him. Not surprising, given our Clan’s history of honor and vengeance. What techniques do you know so far?” He bobbed the tea bag up and down by its string to allow the leaves within to spread their flavor through his cup as he returned to the table. Sasuke looked pleased as he listed off his training regime, followed by his jutsu.

“I’ve already mastered the Shuriken Deflection jutsu and am working on Kunai Deflection. My target accuracy at the standard distances is at ninety-two percent. Our ninja class just finished learning the principles of genjutsu, and I plan to work further on them with Sakura Haruno in class today. With Cat-san I’ve completed the first five katas for the Crescent Moon Dance and have already mastered the Great Fireball Jutsu.”

_That’s my boy._

Indra knew without a doubt they were both thinking of the same memory, in that moment. Unsettled, he nodded and took a sip of his tea to buy himself time as Sasuke emptied his own glass and returned to the half-full blender to finish off his concoction.

“Excellent work Sasuke. Do you plan to master the rest of the Uchiha’s Fire Techniques?”

“The Phoenix Flower, the Rising Dragon, the Flaming Shuriken, perhaps the Majestic Destroyer Flame, one day.”

“That’s good.” Then Indra dropped the bombshell. “Why do you think those techniques will ever help you beat Itachi?”

Sasuke’s head snapped around and he glared at his uncle. “Those are the Uchiha Clan’s techniques, passed down through generations! I’ll kill him with Uchiha Techniques and an Uchiha sword. I’ll be better at our techniques than he is. I’ll be better than him, and our Clan can rest easily.”

Indra sipped at his tea. “They’re resting easily now, Sasuke. The appropriate rites have been performed-“

“No, they’re not!” Sasuke was grinding his teeth and he carefully set the blender in the sink which Indra knew meant his younger self was struggling not to slam it down. “Itachi’s still alive, still walking free, so Mother and Father and- they can’t rest until I kill him and avenge the Clan!”

“Who told you that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Indra folded his arm across his stump. “Explain it to me.”

“The Scrolls said that a murdered Uchiha will demand vengeance, that even after they’re ashes on the wind, their spirits will not rest until the guilty party is dead at Uchiha hands.”

“The Scrolls were written in the Warring States Era, before even the Third Hokage was born. And now there’s one more loyal Uchiha in the village than there was last month. It still doesn’t have to be you.”

“Of course it does!” Indra had never seen someone drink a smoothie with such emphasis. “He’s my brother, he killed my parents, it’s my responsibility.”

Indra sighed. This would make two lifetimes now spent cleaning up Itachi and the Leaf’s messes and sometimes his annoyance with his dead brother outweighed the love he still felt. “I’m guessing Itachi told you that, didn’t he?”

Sasuke scowled, but didn’t argue, so Indra pressed his point home.

“Why would you listen to anything a murdering lunatic had to say?”

“Because it’s still my responsibility. Because he was right. Because he wanted me to kill him, and with the Sharingan, I’m the only one who can!”

Indra put on a hurt expression, but inwardly he was grinning. Sasuke was playing right into his argument, just as he knew the boy would. “So Kakashi and I don’t count? We’ve got a full set of Sharingan between us, and the Mangekyo. We could take him.”

This was, perhaps, stretching the truth, but a fight like that was years away. He had time to train, and he intended to make sure Kakashi did too. Sasuke’s scowl only deepened. “You could, but it wouldn’t be right.”

“Show me in the scrolls where it says an Uchiha Bloodline Guardian and the teammate of a defector don’t get to kill him before his younger brother?”

Sasuke wasn’t going to give up and Indra didn’t expect him to. “It has to be me, Uncle. It just has to, there’s no other way.”

He’d planted the idea, so Indra moved on. “Assuming your vengeance comes first, you’d use the Uchiha Clan techniques to beat him?” At a nod, he continued. “And how would you become better than Itachi Uchiha, a natural genius, at techniques he already knows, and who has a six-year head start?”

Sasuke shoved his empty glass towards the center of the table. “I’ll train harder, get better.”

Indra allowed his one visible eyebrow to rise and lifted a corner of his mouth into a smirk he knew would infuriate Sasuke. Sasuke hated condescension and superiority more than anything. “That’s a hope, not a plan. He’s an S-Rank Missing Nin, on the run from every village with a Bingo Book and some very good bounty hunters.” Indra made a mental note to himself. _Contact Madame Juo when time permits._ The irascible bounty hunter was now quite younger and likely still as useful an information broker. Start pinning down Itachi’s movements with spies outside of Danzō’s control. Sasuke would also like her tomatoes.

The boy in question was staring at him in frustration, so Indra finished his tea. “Fighting the best of the Uchiha with Uchiha Techniques, while admirable and traditional, is a fool’s game. You will never beat him that way.”

Sasuke opened his mouth to object, but Indra barreled on. “Sasuke. You will beat Itachi by not playing his game. He wants you to come after him. He wants you to sink into hatred and training day after day until you live for nothing but to kill him.”

“I’m not going to just give up-“

“I’m not asking you to. Think, Sasuke Uchiha! What jutsu will Itachi Uchiha not expect, what strategies will he not have plans for?”

“He’ll have plans for everything,” muttered Sasuke sullenly. “He’s Itachi the Genius, like you said.”

“That’s still what he wants you to think. Listen, I’ve been around the world, fought a lot of strange people. I don’t know what the Crescent Moon Dance is, I had to ask you. It’s a technique you’re learning from an Anbu agent. It’s unusual, it’s unorthodox, it’s unexpected!”

The younger boy snorted. “What, you want me to fight like Naruto? No brain, improvise everything? The Unpredictable Knucklehead?”

Despite the many, many amusing images that thought conjured, especially Layer 38 of his Kakashi-tailored genjutsu, Indra kept a straight face. “Something like that. Keep training with the Uchiha Techniques but start thinking about others. What could you do, what focus would Itachi never expect? He wants you to be an Uchiha, a frontline fighter with a sword and fire and vengeance and everything else he knows how to deal with. Most of the clan fought like that, and well, you’ve seen the results.”

He reached across and grasped his younger self’s arm. Not harshly, but because something told Indra the connection was important. “You get to decide what the Uchiha techniques and traditions are now. You, not Itachi. I know you’ll come up with something impressive.”

Sasuke stared like Indra had hit him in the face. Naked shock as the boy’s entire training structure and driving focus had the support beams carved asunder. Of course, Naruto spoiled the moment by wandering in singing something about ramen.

“- _wrap it up and put it in a cup!_ Oh, ‘morning!”

Indra sheepishly let go of Sasuke’s arm and leaned back in his chair, suddenly aware of how empty his stomach was. Tea wouldn’t cut it. “Good morning Naruto. You’re right on time, I was just about to make scrambled eggs.” If the Uzumaki noticed the awkward atmosphere in the room, he didn’t comment on it. He always was selectively oblivious. “Gee, thanks Indra-san, but it’s no trouble. I’ll just make myself some ramen.”

Indra rolled his remaining eye, but it didn’t produce the same effect. “You’re having eggs. Besides, I intend to see how you both fare in the dojo before school. Sasuke’s already so enthusiastic and I thought it would be an excellent way to start our day.”

As Naruto cheered and Sasuke’s brain visibly started back up again, Indra allowed himself a small slice of satisfaction. Even if most of their conversations so far had been arguments, he’d always been at his best when teaching Sarada techniques and he saw no reason to stop the one part of his parenting that he knew would work well. And if it allowed him to train with his singular eye and kick the pants off two rambunctious preteens, well that was all a bonus.

_________________________________

Walking the children to school wasn’t strictly necessary, but Indra was going all the way back to basics. He’d read plenty of parenting books before, when Sakura was pregnant and they’d both worried about being the best parents possible. Well, if Sarada had thought he’d failed at that, clearly, he needed to start from scratch. He listened to Naruto chatter about how he was going to be an intimidating Hokage with his Iron Club of Authority and Justice while Sasuke kept bringing up the genjutsu lessons they both needed to work on with Sakura. It was good the three of them were already getting along so well, and he saw it when Sakura joined their little group around Sejun Street. She’d been waiting for them and both boys greeted her warmly. Well, Sasuke nodded and said nothing else, but Indra remembered when his primary response to Sakura’s existence had been annoyance and disdain. Their discussion of genjutsu principals and translation for Naruto was one of equals. Sakura spoke with confidence and puffed her chest out slightly, something he could feel that she’d picked up from Ino Yamanaka, or perhaps from her Inner Self. He’d learned about THAT psychological quirk during genjutsu-marriage counseling and Inner Sakura had belted him across the face hard enough to leave a psychostigmatic bruise that lasted for two weeks. He rubbed his cheek at the memory and tuned back in to see the three children looking up at him with questioning eyes.

“Sorry, I was thinking. What’d I miss?”

Naruto spoke up, of course. “Sakura-chan wanted to know what the coolest genjutsu you’d ever seen was.”

Indra relayed to them the story of a Mist ninja who’d once used a technique that shifted every object six degrees to the right, then the left, in alternating, sinusoidal patterns that made dodging kunai difficult even for the Sharingan. Indra had been so impressed by the technique he’d actually delayed breaking out of it to test its effects. By the time he’d finished the story, the group had arrived at the gates of the Academy and he waved them off with a small smile on his face. _Visible displays of affection and positive reinforcement are key to developing strong familial bonds_. He was going to succeed at parenting if he had to rewrite his entire personality from the ground up, Sage damn it.

He felt the signatures of the two ANBU who’d been following them move off to the school as well and started in surprise as someone tapped him on the shoulder. Inoichi Yamanaka and his daughter stood behind him, both with the satisfied smiles of two ninja who’d managed to show up a teammate. Indra blinked and offered his hand to Inoichi, who shook it and introduced his daughter. They exchanged meaningless pleasantries as Indra tried to shove down the memory of Ino, foaming at the mouth as the memories of Some Thing boiled her brain inside her skull. It would not happen. He would not allow it. His conscious mind registered a faint “See you Dad, Mister Uchiha!” and a small blonde figure dashing to catch up with Sakura and the main object of her affection. Inoichi jerked his head to indicate a direction and Indra fell into step alongside the tall man with automatic steps. “I’m guessing you caught only one word in five of that conversation” said Inoichi and Indra nodded apologetically. “Despite a month of bed rest, I’ve still got some work to do up here.” He tapped his temple and Inoichi made a noise of agreement. “I could recommend someone, if you’d like. Not a Yamanaka, but he’s an excellent conversationalist.” Indra weighed the pro’s and cons of therapy until a light went off in his brain. “Actually, Yamanaka-san, I’d rather pick your brain, when you have the time. Strictly in a personal capacity,” he added as the man began to look wary. “If I’m going to be living with an Uzumaki and an Uchiha as teenagers, some advice from another ninja parent would be nice.”

Things were already changing. Sasuke Uchiha would have never asked for help from another man and wouldn’t be caught dead using the word nice in conversation. But this wasn’t about his pride, this was about making sure Naruto and Sasuke were safe. About making sure they didn’t make his mistakes all over again. And if Inoichi fit the criteria of “ninja parent” who also knew what made Indra tick, well, even better.

The blonde grinned at him as they moved through the edge of the residential district towards the foot of the Hokage Mountain. “An Uchiha asking for help with a personal matter? This is a nice change. Why me?”

Indra outlined the thoughts he’d been turning over in his head all morning, about the need to deal with several missions out of the village, with long time horizons, while also being a parental figure. Even with shadow clones, he couldn’t split the difference in a way he would have liked. Inoichi tucked his hands into his massive jacket’s pockets. “Don’t really know what to tell you, since you said your wife’s gone. My Asta helps run our flower shop, and I took a T & I posting within the village until our daughter graduates. When she’s running missions of her own with a jounin-sensei, we won’t need to be around quite as much. Have you thought about a babysitter? I’d suggest a family friend but-“ he grimaced and Indra nodded in understanding.

“Can you imagine Uzumaki with a babysitter? He and Sasuke would drive them crazy within the week and they’d be bored on top of it. The Anbu-“ He paused, unsure of how much Inoichi knew, but the jonin waved him on. “I’m essentially your case officer, so I’m filled in. You were saying?” Well, that was a relief. “The Anbu have been helpful, but now I’ve proven sane and capable-ish they’ll be heading back to their posts this week, I suspect. A shame, Kakashi seems to really like them.”

They reached the foot of the mountain and Inoichi sent a pulse of chakra into the stone, which shimmered in recognition. The Yamanaka led Indra through the wall and into the Anbu headquarters, but the conversation continued as they passed by other black-coated specialists or mask-clad agents. Indra wondered how many of them were Root.

“Well, you’ll be surprised to know Kakashi’s tapping out from Anbu, so he’ll have more free time for your brats. Nobody expected it, but Sarutobi’s been smug all morning.”

“This would be why you brought me to your secret base, then?”

“Well, this and your upcoming mission concerning Orochimaru. Plenty of people want to take a crack at that bastard, especially with those maps you gave us. Danzō wants to speak with us about squads, but I’m there strictly in an advisory capacity.” He grinned at Indra as they passed a mess hall with scattered squads filing in for migu soup and rice balls. “And to keep you two from killing each other, of course.”

Indra allowed himself an Uchiha smile in response. “A wise decision.”

__________________

Shimura Danzō’s office within the Anbu base was refreshingly mundane. When Indra had last been there, it had been empty, with any important papers or jars of Sharingan eyes long gone. Now, there was a large desk, a wall of filing cabinets with explosive seals taped all over them, and an irate old man signing forms. Danzō sat in the only chair and ignored them for several minutes as he worked his way through whatever he was pretending to work on, but Indra was an old hand at this game. Bureaucrats across the continent loved making you wait. It reinforced whatever small scrap of procedural power they had and let them set the terms of the conversation. Indra just examined the office. No family photos, he’d expected that. A pitted, scarred, slightly rusting Leaf headband lay at the corner of the desk, next to the lamp that illuminated it in the otherwise dim room. Two masked, hooded Anbu agents, Monkey again, and Crayfish stood as still as statues in the corners, next to a bookshelf. Indra turned on his Sharingan and cocked his head to examine the titles. _Lightning’s Foreign Policy since 40 ME by Hook and Spinner (_ Obvious Pseudonyms) _, What the Mizukage Wants by L.R. , Why Clans Fail by Acemoglu and Robinson,_ and _Classic Kage Speeches_ in a well-worn hardback next to _Letters of the Century_. Interesting.

“Your devotion to the children is unexpected, given how little time you’ve spent with them,” commented Danzō without warning. “The mission you have proposed, despite your bounty of intelligence on the Sound Village, will require the highest focus and commitment.” He moved a small stack of papers to the side and Crayfish walked them out the door to some unknown destination. “You will fall in combat against Orochimaru of the Sannin if you are thinking of the wellbeing of some children miles away.”

It was impressive how quickly the Anbu leader managed to irritate Indra, but he reigned himself in. This time, he would not allow Danzō to occupy the moral high ground. “I assure the Councilor my focus on Orochimaru will be absolute and undivided. Furthermore, I would remind you that an Anbu cordon will not matter, no matter if they are two or seven masks deep, if some agents are more concerned with capturing intelligence than ensuring enemy-nin do not escape.” Danzō sent him an accusatory look, to which Indra brandished his stump. “You never did ask about what I said when we first met. Or does Sarutobi not know you’ve been bartering a new arm from Orochimaru?”

Danzō’s lips thinned into a tight line and he pulled his own bandaged arm from its sling with his free hand. Though it terminated below the elbow unlike Indra’s, the arm did not move on its own and flopped in his grasp like a deboned fish. “I would think a fellow invalid would appreciate the development of viable shinobi prosthetics, no matter the source. Besides, the correspondence had allowed us to track down one of his laboratories in Tea Country despite the number of false trails he laid. It was a viable intelligence method.”

“Still consorting with an enemy of the village,” said Indra shortly. “If it’s a prosthetic you desire, I know an excellent sculptor in Ashina province with a wide variety of-“

Inoichi cut in with a few documents he fished out from the inner lining of his coat. “The personnel reports, Councilor.”

Indra and Danzo glared at each other for a moment, brandishing their appendages in a silently absurd challenge and Inoichi sighed as he stepped between them. “The Cordon will, as you suggested, consist of sixty shinobi for each hideout, of which fifteen will be sensors staggered along the second line to sense any stragglers. They are on pages one through four.”

Indra took a few deep breaths through his nose and lowered his stump to examine the list. No names immediately jumped out at him as obvious Root agents, and he compared the list to the one Sai had shown him three decades before. Even with the Sharingan’s perfect recollection, the Root agents could be operating under different names within Anbu. They could have different names every month or every assignment, all known and tracked only by those within Danzo’s circle of trust. There was a reason that despite the Third Hokage’s fury, Root had been so hard to uproot from Anbu ranks. He spoke up. “Hyuuga jonin could help fill the gaps around the Northern Hideout. I know one of the prisoners there might prove difficult to capture without disabling his chakra points entirely.”

As Danzō and Inoichi nodded their assent and continued discussing which hideouts were best defended or most vulnerable, Indra sent a silent apology to a young Jugo and to whichever unlucky Hyuga first encountered him. They spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon going over the Anbu roster necessary and parsing the plans for moving that many ninja through to the Land of Rice Paddies without detection. Or, at least, detection as late in the game as possible. Every missing-nin they captured was another possible olive branch to get the other Great Nations to cooperate against the Akatsuki. Indra lobbied hard to include Mishitari Anko, knowing Orochimaru’s ex-student had just as much a desire to see the snake suffer as he did, if not more. Inoichi hedged and Danzō had been convinced she could not be trusted on such a delicate operation.

“-But it’s not a delicate operation, is it?” Indra was arguing. “We’re systematically capturing a small Hidden Village of roughly three hundred enemy ninja and an unknown number of captive prisoners. We get the last group freed, the odds will be much more even.”

“You propose increasing the number of combatants by a factor of three, each with their own agendas and many with possible grudges against the Leaf,” said the leader of the Anbu. “Even with confidence in my Anbu’s skills, your proposal will invite disaster and chaos. Chaos Orochimaru and other critical members could use to slip away.”

“Your arguments return to the central question of this mission,” said Inoichi. “Is it focused on the destruction of dangerous enemies, or the liberation of prisoners? Will it be a warning to the Leaf’s enemies, or a politically motivated mission to gain goodwill and bargaining chips for the war to come? We all know, the first option is easier for the other nations to understand.”

Indra forced himself to think before responding. His Naruto’s charisma and concern for others would have allowed them to focus on the latter, and likely would have made it more successful. No one could calm a panicking ninja captive like Naruto Uzumaki’s _ninshu_ , but Indra was here instead, so they had to work with what they had. He knew his Naruto would be disappointed in him. “Your point is well made, Inoichi-san. We shall leave the prisoners where they are until the fighting is finished, then release them. However, I do believe Specialist Anko’s expertise with traps would be useful for our assault on the main Southern Compound. Otherwise, we’d be forced to move at speed through tunnels I know are keyed to genetic markers and will blow if the right guards don’t reset the seals for the next shift.”

“You mentioned that in Report Twelve,” murmured Danzō absently as he went over the rough floorplan Indra had provided. No doubt some of those tunnels hadn’t been dug yet, and perhaps Orochimaru hadn’t invented that tricky sealing defense, but it never hurt to be prepared. They all looked up at a knock on the door and Danzō did something complicated beneath his desk that released several seals. “Enter.”

A masked Anbu agent entered with a small scroll, still covered in dust and sweat. They’d been running hard and had recovered their breath only once they were safely behind the village walls. Indra empathized, even if they did stink. “Fresh intelligence from Iwakagure, sir.”

Danzō dismissed the agent with a wave of his hand and broke the scroll seal with a drop of his own blood. As he read, his expression sharpened beyond its usual steely gaze and he threw the report across to Indra. “Deidara of the Hidden Stone was declared a missing-nin last week when he stole the Devouring Deva parasite for his personal use as an explosives expert.”

_So that’s what those things were called._

“Hn.” Indra was silent as he read the report, but Danzō continued, presumably for Inoichi’s benefit. “Stone Hunter-Nin failed to capture him, but some bounty hunter got lucky and delivered his corpse to the Great Stone Arch on Saturday. Report says she shattered every rib he had and ripped out the parasite’s teeth just to be safe. Sounds like your report was accurate, but that eye of yours may have overestimated his prowess.”

 _Shattered every rib he had_ …

Indra scanned the report twice over, but there was no further mention of the bounty hunter. It sounded like Sakura, certainly her monstrous strength, but there wasn’t enough to be sure. And divorce or not, Indra wasn’t going to give Danzō a heads up that his ex-wife may have been alive and was likely heading in the direction of Konohagakure. He gave silent thanks to his habitually blank poker face, rolled up the scroll, and passed it to Inoichi. It wasn’t Sakura for sure. There were other ex-ninja or even samurai with chakra enhanced strength. He had a mission to plan for, one he couldn’t afford to let personal failings get in the way of. Indra kept lying to himself for the rest of the day, then the rest of the week, but there was no further news. No obliterated towns, no decrease in Western bounties. He sighed. It was probably nothing.

Still, for the next few weeks he kept an eye and ear on the pink-haired girl as she trained with Cat-san or walked to school. No strange dreams mentioned, no exhaustion, no sudden increase in confidence or chakra control. No mysterious comments. Just a girl learning how to be a ninja and discovering that the dreamy Sasuke Uchiha could still be a bit of a brat. Indra felt a knot of tension in his back loosen, just a smidge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I took the opportunity to cram this chapter with references to international relations books and Sekiro, because I realized how similar Indra was to Wolf. Plus, Deidara's hand-mouths were just so weird, I made up a demonic parasite that supercharges his Explosion Style jutsu with the Exploding Clay. Didn't help him much though.
> 
> Mostly, this is just another chapter of setup, sorry.


	25. The Calm Before the Storm

Summer was over and the Leaf Village was well into autumn when the Anbu and the Hokage were satisfied with the plans. Indra had worked his way through three parenting books, had gone to Inoichi for advice four times, and felt reasonably confident his departure would not cause Naruto and Sasuke to abandon the village in pursuit of him or Itachi. (He was not being paranoid; he was speaking from experience.) In this, especially, Kakashi was a gift from the gods themselves, as was Cat.

Officially, the Fox Squad was disbanded, and its members rotated back into active duty roles, but a purple-haired Anbu just kept finding time to return to a small back garden and tutor two small, increasingly ferocious children on bladework and what genjutsu she knew. She might disappear without warning for days, weeks, at one point, a month and a half, but Indra was able to offer pointers and fill in enough that both Sasuke’s Crescent Moon training and Sakura’s genjutsu at least did not regress while their teacher was gone. Naruto had Kakashi’s undivided attention, for the most part, and Indra once privately admitted to Inoichi over drinks that the grey-haired jonin had in fact become the perfect babysitter and teacher Indra knew his strange little family needed. Once everyone had teamed up to teach Naruto about food groups other than ramen, sometimes at leafy green kunai point, the boy ate what seemed like half the refrigerator on a regular basis. Indra was grateful he was drawing a specialist jonin’s salary and found lifting massive grocery bags an adequate workout while an orange-clad child clambered over his shoulders and a dark blue one followed in his wake, arguing all the while. He knew Danzō still _disapproved_ , but the head of the Anbu was also too busy running his black ops within black ops to prepare the Land of Rice Paddies for their mission. Then hideous disaster struck twice, in quick succession.

First, the Land of Grass announced it was closing its borders to all Konoha shinobi until the Land of Fire paid restitution for the large tax shipment its shinobi had failed to protect from unidentified ninja in black robes and red clouds. Secondly, Sakura’s parents had invited Indra over for dinner.

In comparison, the second even might seem pitifully small compared to the massive reorganization of material and mission briefs required in Konoha, some of which put Indra’s Operation Harmony into a further state of chaos. However, the idea of dinner and a friendly interrogation ran up against the rocks of Indra’s basic personality and stayed beached. Sure, he could use the Mind Alteration Jutsu to create a more relaxed, outgoing personality, but Mrs. Haruno had a tendency to chat in the marketplace, and people would notice discrepancies, and then there would be more questions, and on and on. He brought up the topic one afternoon during training when he’d been pushing Sakura in and out of genjutsu to break her of the normal disorientation such a shift caused. At the same time, Naruto and Sasuke were attacking him with all their might with their preferred styles and even with wooden weapons, Indra was finding it difficult to block all of their attacks. Sometimes three limbs just wasn’t enough. Predictably, none of them stopped attacking for even an instant, even though Sakura frowned in confusion and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“So Sakura’s mom wants to meet you, why should we care?” asked his younger self as he went for Indra’s legs. Sakura groaned in exasperation. Boys were so stupid. “Because if Uchiha-san just sits there silently or puts his foot in his mouth or something, it reflects badly on us as well.”

“Not that I would do that.”

She gave the older man a flat look of deep suspicion. “The first time we met you you nearly vomited on us and ended up a sobbing wreck within an hour and I had to drag your nephew off for fried chicken. If you piss off my mother, I can’t save you.” She covered her mouth the instant the crass remark escaped her lips, but none of the others commented on it. Naruto was giving her bad habits, for sure. But if no one reprimanded her, were they really bad habits?

Indra shrugged, heedless of the girl's internal dilemma. The last time he’d officially met Mebuki Haruno, it was after he’d been an infamous missing-nin, then a war hero, then gotten her daughter pregnant in the wilderness of Fire Country. He’d deserved every single one of those broken ribs and the two-hour rant that had followed. Things couldn’t be worse than that. “I await my doom with dignity, then.”

“So what are your parents like, y’know?” asked Naruto, bringing a wooden staff down in a two-handed chop that Indra interrupted by kicking him back across the dojo. Having one parent with a famous history and another he refused to acknowledge, the boy was curious about comparisons. Sakura broke out of another genjutsu and plunged back into another one, but she still replied in a distant, distracted voice.

“Well, they argue about a lot of dumb stuff, but it’s not really arguing, I guess. It’s just how they talk sometimes and they smile when they do it.”

Indra spared a moment to reminisce about the Uzumaki-Uchiha household. He and Naruto had bantered like that even into their old age. A good memory.

“My mom’s kind of strict, so she makes most of the decisions because Dad’s a pushover. For someone who’s a desk chunin now, he’s pretty easygoing.” She broke through the vision of mud pools Indra had given her and she pumped her fist in satisfaction. “Jokes a lot, but they’re all terrible, so I’m warning you now.”

“At least we’ll have that in common.”

For once, that got the three children to back off and give him odd looks. Sakura looked curious, Sasuke suspicious, and Naruto looked like a cat that had made off with a bowl of cream. “You do Dad Jokes? I haven’t heard you make a joke the entire time I’ve known you.”

Their sparring partner spun his own wooden sword into a resting position. Joking with Kizashi Haruno had been deeply awkward at first, but when the man had discovered Indra’s sense of humor was simply more subtle, it had been the start of a long-standing tradition of making Sarada want to develop Kamui simply to escape their family events. On second thought, perhaps that was another tradition it would be best to not revisit. “It might not be a good first impression, on second thought.”

Sasuke looked thankful but Naruto groaned and started chanting. “C’mon, jokes! Jokes! Jokes!”

Indra shared a long-suffering look with the others but it had been his fault for bringing it up in the first place. “Fine. What’s the worst thing about eating a clock?”

“Indigestion? Losing hands?”

Indra shook his head. “It’s time-consuming.”

Now all three children had wooden weapons and set upon him with all the fury of the deeply wronged.

That Friday evening, Sakura had wandered over to the waiting Indra in front of the schoolyard and handed him written directions to her house, then left to await the Uchiha-Uzumaki delegation there. Indra was grateful for the extra thought and insisted they all return to the Uchiha District to change into something nice. Naruto had complained but both Uchiha insisted that this was about helping Sakura, so her parents knew she was spending her time with reasonable people. Naruto had his delinquent reputation and Indra was still something of an object of mystery to the civilian populace, which was why he still garnered so many stares at the grocery store. Presumably they already knew about Sasuke Uchiha in great detail. At that, Naruto relented and turned up in the only collared shirt he owned which was of course, orange. Sasuke had opted for a slightly more open Uchiha garb, with a lower collar that exposed his entire face and neck, as well as a pair of jeans and a belt that made him vaguely formal. Indra stuck his head into his younger self’s room to find the boy glaring at his shoes in frustration. The boy spoke without preamble, “Which shoes are better? If I use the formal black ones, they’ll get dusty by the time we get there and it’ll look bad. Our sandals just seem so…normal.”

Indra indicated the dress shoes as he shrugged into a blue _hakama_ jacket over a purple-tinted kimono. It’s not that dusty, they’ll be fine.” He paused as a thought occurred to him. “Are you actually worried about this?”

Sasuke shuffled his sandals back into the closet and moved to a chair as Indra entered the room in full, appearing fully relaxed. “You’re the one who bought a fitted kimono and jacket for this, you tell me. And you’ve been twitchy all day.”

“You’ve seen me twice today, you were at school.”

“And both times, you were twitchy.”

This wasn’t worth arguing about. “If they don’t like me, that’s fine. If they decide we’re being a bad influence on Sakura, then we might have trouble.”

“How could we be a bad influence?”

Indra thought about the four cracked ribs and the two-hour tirade from a lifetime ago. “Adults often have their own strange ideas of what a bad influence is. Now let’s go, on the way I’ll tell you about the time I was run out of a Stone town because I forgot to put a shirt on.”

_____________________

The delegation stood in front of the perfectly normal looking, two story beige townhouse. Naruto and Sasuke swallowed simultaneously while Indra was wishing he’d added a second layer of deodorant. He knew by the end of this, he was going to be sweating like a pig. Lying to the Hokage and the Head of the Anbu was one thing. That was professional. Lying to his ex-mother-in-law who was meeting him for the first time? That was…personal. Indra sent a silent prayer to his parents and the Goddess Amaterasu for her protection and rang the doorbell. The house shook on its foundations as something massive barreled towards the door and was stopped in its tracks. They could hear Sakura’s voice even through the door. “No, Mom, please let me-“

The door opened and a man with a starburst-shaped hairstyle and purple hair smiled at them. “Welcome, welcome, Uchiha-san! Thank you all for coming! Please come in, I have some refreshments if you’re rea-tea for them before dinner.”

Sasuke made a strangled moan from behind his lips and Naruto had stuffed a fist into his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Indra bowed politely. “Your hospitality is appreciated, Haruno-san. Thank you for having us.” At Kizashi’s ushering, they stepped inside and removed their shoes, but the man kept giving Naruto odd glances. Understandable with the fist in his mouth. “Is he…alright?” Kizashi asked uncertainly. All of Sakura’s rants about Uzumaki this and idiot-Naruto that, perhaps the boy was slow-minded.

Of all people, Sasuke came to his rescue. “No sir,” said the boy, “He’s just hungry all the time. Your daughter helped us with some research actually and she found Uzumaki tend to eat far more than most people, for some reason.” The look on his face was something between a smirk and a smile, but it passed beneath Kizashi’s notice. “He’d eat us out of the Uchiha District if we weren’t careful.”

Naruto opened his mouth to retaliate with something loud and cutting, but the older man’s laughter interrupted him as it boomed throughout the small entryway. “I see, well he’s in luck tonight! My wonderful wife had a shrimp dish she was eager to use on some unsuspecting guniea pigs, so eat your fill.” He leaned down and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “I could never stand the faces myself. Food shouldn’t look back at you before you eat it.”

Indra realized they were loitering and moved further into the hallway, indicating with his stump for Naruto and Sasuke to find and reinforce Sakura, wherever she was. His minions nodded and stampeded around the corner, where they heard exclamations of surprise from Sakura and her mother, as well as what handsome young men they were. That idea wasn’t going to survive the night, Indra would put money on it. Kizashi reached an arm around his guest’s shoulder and guided him into a small but cozy living room, with a window looking back out onto the darkened street. He gestured and Indra sat down as his host poured two small cups of tea. “For me it was just a routine mission in some small village in Rain. Dove to catch a kid falling off a tower and blew both of ‘em out. Hospital said I can still walk, but I won’t be leaping through trees anymore. You?”

Indra held his stump up, which was mostly hidden under the jacket. “I was about to do something deeply stupid and my friend tried to stop me. Bley my arm off with my own jutsu, so it’s mostly self-inflicted.” He allowed himself to dip back into memories of the Final Valley, indulging in what was now a perversely fond memory. The cartographers had indeed been forced to redraw the map and the Land of Fire’s tourism board had sent sternly worded letters about the destruction of a national monument. Kizashi looked taken aback, but Indra waved the memory away in a mollifying gesture. “It was in the past, and I’ve adopted. The challenge helped keep my mind clear. If you handed me a new arm tomorrow, I wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

Sakura’s father had the same smile she did, sudden and blinding in its sincerity. “Well, it’s good to hear someone is capable of appreciating my jokes.”

“We _tolerate_ your jokes, dear.” Mebuki Haruno’s white dress circled around the small couch Indra had been on, wiping her hands on a towel and swooped in to kiss her husband’s cheek. “Though I hope Uchiha-san doesn’t plan on adding more of them this evening.” She gave him an appraising look as Indra rose to his feet and bowed. “I would not dream of it, if the lady of the house wishes otherwise.”

“Well now, the Lady of the House, for such a ruffian you have refined manners. How refreshingly unexpected!” She sat down as well, crossing her legs and Indra followed suit, sipping once again at his tea. “What have I missed so far, while I was convincing the Uzumaki boy to not eat directly from the skillet?”

Clever. Somehow Indra had already acquired a reputation as a ruffian, and she’d posed a question so he couldn’t refute the accusation without seeming rude. The social battlefield mothers of Konoha occupied was as wide and dangerous as any site from the Fourth Shinobi War and after the third PTA meeting, Indra had the etiquette protocols drilled into him by his wife. Anbu handsign was easier by far, but he rallied immediately.

“We were discussing old wounds and the difficulties they can cause, but if such conversation is too crass for polite company, you are welcome to ask away.” If Indra couldn’t directly inquire about his reputation, he could at least attempt to out-polite her, without seeming standoffish. But Mebuki surprised him.

“Oh, on the contrary, please continue. My husband complains about his knees whenever it rains, but I’m fairly certain he just says that to avoid the dishes. Some perspective would be welcome”

Kizashi chuckled and put an arm around his wife’s shoulders in an affectionate squeeze. “You know standing that long is difficult, that’s why I’m parked behind a nice safe desk instead of up in one of those guard towers.”

“Well, I’m sorry to say my arm doesn’t trouble me much, so there are no good stories to tell there. This can itch like nothing else, though,” Indra said, tapping his hand on his bandage-covered left cheek. “Never for long, and never at any particular moment, it’s the strangest thing and very difficult to not scratch.”

Sakura’s mother leaned forward, face alight with ghoulish fascination sometimes common with civilians and shinobi injuries. “Oh, how terrible! But surely there is some comfort when you change the bandages? It’s been several months now, after all and Lord Hokage did announce you were going to be a shinobi anyway. What prompted that?”

“The bandages were self sterilizing, some sealing jutsu the hospital wrote on the inside. A curious invention. But I volunteered to return to active duty despite my injuries because…” He paused, this was edging into heavier territory than perhaps appropriate for a civilian dinner party, but she had asked the question. Sooner or later, he needed to ask one and put Mebuki on the defensive.

“Well, I’ve been travelling all my life in one way or another, but it wouldn’t feel right, leaving Sasuke without a proper mentor. Has Sakura mentioned her genjutsu aptitude, by any chance? For someone still in the Academy, she has exceptional chakra control.”

While her husband grinned and began extolling how his own small chakra pool had made him efficient in his jutsu usage, pride and regret warred across Mebuki Haruno’s face, even though she tried to hide it behind a fake laugh and a hand. “Well, Sakura-chan was so insistent we sign her up for classes, I must admit the most I thought she’d be interested in were the academic tests. I’m glad to see she’s enjoying herself, though I trust you’re not pushing her too hard? What sort of genjutsu are you showing her?”

Not two days prior Indra had locked Sakura’s mind within a maze of one-hundred and twelve weak genjutsu and challenged her to see how quickly she could break out. Her normal resolve had begun to sputter in the middle, around the sixty-seventh, but her Inner self had rallied and proceeded to punch through eight layers with each swing of her fists, blasting a straight line to the maze exit. She’d emerged soaked in sweat and gasping for breath, but ecstatic at her progress and Indra’s words that her hard work was paying off. _Children who receive encouragement are more likely to believe their skills can improve, while children who are simply praised believe their skills are fixed, thus and try to avoid challenging those expectations._ A subtle, but important distinction Parenting Book #3 had taught.

“Well, I’ve kept the exercises suitable for a girl of her age, of course,” said Indra, warming to his subject. “No genjutsu that simulate pain, mostly environmental focuses for now. Muddy swamps, endless grasslands, snow, that sort of thing. Inoichi Yamanaki has been quite helpful with suggestions.”

“Oh, the Yamanaka’s are such good people, aren’t they?” Both parents were pleased and he spoke with them for a while about how kind the blondes were, and how from what he’d seen, Ino was one of Sakura’s good friends. In the meantime, he kept his ears open, wondering where Sakura had dragged the boys off to. With Naruto in the house, it was suspiciously quiet. Apologizing to his hosts, he flicked on his Sharingan and looked around, then nodded when he saw three blue glows above them on the second floor. “Forgive me, but I wanted to make sure my charges haven’t wandered into trouble. With Naruto, it’s always a distinct possibility and I’m a paranoid old man.”

Mebuki smiled and nodded in a way that said she knew exactly how Naruto could be Like That, doubtless from one of Sakura’s stories while her husband guffawed. “Nonsense, you’re not an old man, you’re only in your late twenties! I realize it must now seem like drudgery for a wandering young man, but raising children really isn’t that bad. See, I’m raising a child and I don’t have a single grey hair yet.”

At that, Indra gave a real, but small smile for the first time. “Haruno-san, as it turns out, with these kids, I haven’t been this happy in a long while. In fact,” he said honestly, “I’m looking forward to it. They’re good kids and they’re going to become great ninja.”

Mebuki’s face was doing that pride/regret dance again, so she muttered something about checking on dinner and swooped out of the room. Indra looked across the coffee table at her husband and raised his only eyebrow in a silent question. He was reasonably sure Kizashi would provide some sort of context, but the man looked just as embarrassed as he felt. Indra felt like he had to take some responsibility, even if only to mollify the couple as much as he could. “If it was something I said, I do apolo-“

“It’s only partially to do with you, Uchiha-san,” admitted his host. “Your abrupt arrival was the talk of the house for a few days and when your nephew- He is your nephew, correct?”

Indra inclined his head and finished off his tea the way some ninja finished shots. Toss it back, gulp it down.

“Well, when your nephew approached her about a research project, she was over the moon about it. When we heard she was spending time with the Uzumaki ragmuffin, well, we worried a bit, given his reputation and his, well condition.”

His guest breathed out slowly through his nostrils and checked once again. No one within hearing range. “You mean the Nine-Tails?”

“Ah, so you do know. Given you’ve practically adopted the boy, we weren’t sure what to think, so-“

“I had nothing to do with that,” admitted Indra, pleased he could shift the target on his back and only a little guilty about who it was on now. “That was entirely my nephew’s idea, he positively insisted Naruto move in with us and I didn’t have the heart to tell him no. And Sasuke has been a steadfast supporter of his friend just as Naruto has stood by him. That the Nine-Tails is sealed inside him, matters not one iota. As I said, they’re good kids Haruno-san.”

“I don’t doubt that-“

“All evidence to the contrary.” Even he winced at the words that had escaped from his mouth and Kizashi looked equally taken aback. Alright, damage control. “My apologies, that was rude of me. Still, Haruno-san if this dinner was to get to know me, use it to get to know Naruto as well. You’ll find he will surprise you, I think. He’s just a boy.”

Now the man looked slightly guilty and leaned closer. “Don’t you worry, training with them? That he might be…dangerous?”

Indra remembered sharp teeth and a boiling cloak of chakra feasting on nightmares. Oh yes the Nine Tails was dangerous, but Naruto… He remembered Naruto jumping up and down as he created seven shadow clones in the backyard, and Sakura giving him a friendly punch in the shoulder at his success. He remembered his Naruto, his husband, sitting next to him as one of their blonde children took the wide-brimmed hat of the Hokage and placed it upon the raven-haired head of the other. He, Naruto, and Sakura had all smiled and cried their way through the ceremony. Even if it had ended up being more of a joint effort raising their children in the end, shared happiness simply grew bigger. He gathered his thoughts and spoke. “Every ninja is dangerous, Haruno-san. It’s our job to be dangerous. I am likely one of the most dangerous people you will ever meet in your life, and yet, I am sitting here with a teacup and looking forward to our dinner. Naruto is only ever dangerous when fools or madmen harm his friends, one of whom is of course, your daughter. Even if she breaks his heart, he couldn’t bring himself to harm a hair on her head, it’s just not in his nature. I don’t know if I can make it any clearer than that. Is that sufficient?”

The purple-haired man was silent for a while as a buzzer sounded from within the kitchen and Mebuki’s head appeared in the doorway. “We’re ready, dear, If you could grab the children?”

His wife’s voice appeared to pull the normally talkative man from within his own head and he grinned again. “Of course, my wonderful autumn evening!”

They both rose, and Kizashi offered his hand to Indra, then remembered the missing limb and swapped hands with a slight grimace. “You’ve given me a great deal to think about, Indra Uchiha. Now, go follow my wife, you must be starving, and I’ll find out where your nephew and my daughter have disappeared to.”

The black-haired Uchiha nodded. “Of course.”

Compared to that, the rest of the evening was as easy as a genin obstacle course. The shrimp turned out to be delicious and Kizashi periodically would discreetly transfer a few of his own shrimp to the blonde boy sitting across from him whenever his wife’s attention was elsewhere. Of course, this won him Naruto’s eternal appreciation and what would have been a beaming smile until Sakura kicked him under the table, missed, hit Indra’s shin, and landed the blow the second time, as she admonished Naruto for not swallowing his food. Sasuke performed as expected, polite but terse when adults addressed him until Naruto and Sakura needled him enough that genuine conversation began to flow. Well, it was a conversation just a shade away from an argument, but Indra was sure his prayers earlier in the evening had been answered.

As it turned out, the ninja-in training had become engrossed with Sakura’s hair ribbon collection as Naruto had insisted they experiment with where they would eventually place their own Konoha headbands. Despite some blushing from Sakura and initial refusals from Sasuke, they’d all ended up warming to the project by the time Kizashi Haruno summoned them for dinner. Sakura had been blushing because both Naruto and Sasuke had agreed that her forehead was not in fact abnormally big and a headband there would look perfectly normal.

Sakura’s mother had poured him a glass of sake without asking and Indra soon fell into a conversation with her about one memorable time when an old Sand “monk” named Shukaku had gotten tipsy when he’d been invited to the reception of a wedding, and the amusing anecdotes he’d told in turn. What had actually happened during Temari’s wedding was that Shukaku the One-Tail had shown up at their evening reception to steal every drop of booze supposedly to spite Gaara and had then gotten horribly drunk with him. Indra was reasonably sure the name of the Sand spirit wasn’t widely known even among shinobi, so a detail like this should be safe to use. There was a moment of fear when he’d slipped up and mentioned “my husband” but the woman hadn’t even blinked and urged him to continue the story, slightly flushed herself. If Amaterasu was still listening, he hoped Sakura’s mother wouldn’t remember that detail come morning.

All in all, it had been a good evening. Sakura and her father saw them off and soon the two Uchiha and the Uzumaki were walking back home in an easy silence. For once even Naruto had talked enough. The fact that two days from now he would be setting out to take down a small ninja village bothered him not at all. After all, compared to curious parents, Orochimaru was refreshingly straightforward. Less family dynamics, for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I stole Joel's clock joke from the Last of Us 2, which is the only actually funny part of that game. Also, Sakura's parents as a mostly civilian couple, didn't get much background, which won't be happening here. It continues my theme of "Parents as People" and gives Sakura some more characterization in the bargain. 
> 
> Sorry I'm not super chatty in the notes today, and I hope these chapters aren't boring.


	26. Firewatch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra and Co. set out on Operation Harmony to take Orochimaru's head, but run into some problems on the way.

The 240 Leaf ninja assigned to Operation Harmony left two days later, before first light. Indra had stood there, in the dark early morning of the Uchiha household and contemplated what he was about to do. He was offering himself as bait to entice Orochimaru into a meeting that would inevitably go south. The only question was which one of them would be caught in the trap first? The snake or the one-eyed hawk?

He’d told the children, and they increasingly were _his_ children, somehow, that he was leaving on a mission and would be back within the month. He’d deputized Kakashi to act as his vaguely similar substitute and they knew him enough it wasn’t a surprise. Normally, Cat might “wander by” on a patrol, but she was joining them, to Indra’s quiet astonishment, swapping out for Danzō’s tool Monkey at the last moment. While it was a relief to have one less confirmed Root agent to worry about, Indra now just had to worry about all of the unconfirmed Root agents he would bet his other eye were mingling among squads even now.

Instead, he was worried about Sasuke, because Sasuke was worried about _him_. Naruto and Sakura were young enough and still, somehow, innocent enough, that his survival was an obvious fact. Indra was an Adult and a cool ninja training them, so of course he’d be fine. Sasuke knew better and that night, he’d simply sat in the corner of Indra’s room until he dozed off, unwilling to part from the only family member he wasn’t planning to kill. Indra had honestly expected another argument, but Sasuke seemed determined to keep a stiff upper lip this time. So Indra had left a note on the kitchen table, a promise he knew was deeply stupid to make, but one he made all the same. Three little words, underlined in black ink.

**I’m coming back.**

The squads of sixty, comprised of twelve five-man teams in turn, each peeled off one by one as they crossed the Land of Fire. Orochimaru’s spies, for there were still undoubtedly spies, would have perceived a large Anbu force leaving the village, but one that had scattered to the far corners of the elemental nations. Some of the squads created shadow clones that went on to perform B-rank bounty hunting missions or guard duty for reasonably secure nobles, masking their numbers even further.

Indra’s squad consisted of Cat, with her purple hair, Beetle, a massive giant of a man who had to be an Akimichi, Pheasant, a short auburn-haired man, and Raven, a cloaked figure who rarely spoke and was a painfully obvious distraction/Root agent. So of course, that meant both Raven and one other Anbu were Root. The obvious spy who couldn’t be a spy because they were so obvious was another one of those endless little games Indra was familiar with from when he and Sai ran the Anbu under Naruto’s rule. The obvious spy was of course still a spy, and the hidden secondary spy was meant to act under the radar. When that spy was caught, the enemy, assured they had discovered the hidden threat, would remain comfortably ignorant until the obvious-looking spy shoved twelve chopsticks into their brain. (That had been a memorable mission for Sai.)

They spent two weeks moving through the autumn forests of the Land of Fire, at a time when the landscape lived up to its name as leaves changed color and the countryside was alight with reds, yellows, and oranges in every direction. In this environment, even Naruto could be stealthy. As they moved northwest the weather began to turn, becoming measurably cold and making each member of the team pull their cloaks tighter around them or occasionally shiver while standing watch. As the painfully obvious bait, they allowed themselves the luxury of a fire at night, which helped. Still, as the trees gradually thinned out and the land grew smooth, the wind picked up as well and soon Indra was spreading beeswax balm over his chapped lips and ignoring the smug looks Cat was sending his way. He had chosen to remain a mere jonin, after all, so he didn’t get an Anbu mask or armor. Before they had set out, Cat had offered him a set of silver-grey Anbu armor and he’d declined. He always preferred to be fast on his feet and while armor wouldn’t slow him down, it also wouldn’t provide any real protection against Orochimaru’s Kusanagi sword. How the Snake Sannin had gotten his grimy hands on such an artefact, he’d never said, but Indra could guess. They spent time each night around the fire going over the details of the plan over and over, even though they’d memorized each part by now. What the plan was if Orochimaru rallied the Sound Five and attempted a breakout from the cordon. If he released the prisoners first to occupy their attention? If he slipped through their grasp at the Southern Hideout how the other cordons would respond? How they would respond if the Edo Tensei was used? Endless contingencies, but Indra knew in his bones it would only make a marginal difference. The bastard would have something planned.

Burning Kabuto alive with Amaterasu had given the Sound Village time to plan and the simple knowledge someone was going to hunt you made all the difference in the world. Danzō had been displeased when Indra had explained what he’d done, grumbling that Orochimaru was now fourty-five percent more likely to not even take the meeting in the first place, traps or no. But Danzō had only used Orochimaru, as an agent and often at a distance. Indra had lived, shoulder to skin-shedding shoulder with the man, had seen the dark hunger in those golden eyes and knew even with forewarning, even with a spy feeding the Sound Village every detail about their plan, he could not resist the lure Indra dangled.

A mature Mangekyo Sharingan, the gateway to the Rinnegan, which opened the way for all the jutsu in the world, as well as true Rebirth. Oh no, Orochimaru would be there.

Of course, it wasn’t all strategy, tactics, and business. They were still people underneath the masks, even the Root agents. They needed to eat and drink and piss and talk, all the things normal ninja needed to do too. Around their fire they also spoke about the best places to eat in Fire Country, (Beetle knew of a great fire pepper roast down south) the worst conditions they’d fought or slept in, (Raven’s six-month isolated guard post in the Suna desert with two Suna-nin who didn’t speak a word of the Common Tongue), and the strangest things they’d seen, (Cat’s encounter with a semi-sentient bull that had two heads). If he’d been playing for keeps, Indra could have offered up meeting the Sage of the Six Paths, or the alien-alteration effects of the Karma Seal, but he was sure the first would have just been ignored and the second would start Danzō down a terrifying research road that could only end in mercy killings. The Anbu head already had too much knowledge about sealing for Indra’s comfort, but he was seventy percent sure the man didn’t have a time-travel seal in his possession. The conflict Sarada’s strike team had gone through to obtain theirs was proof enough. The Uzumaki had kept some secrets buried deep beneath the waterline, deeper than any living thing really ought to be…

Pheasant tapped him on the shoulder in a silent code that meant “switch watch in five minutes, replace my shadow clone seamlessly”, which necessitated a Transformation jutsu and a Substitution jutsu simultaneously. Difficult for a man with one hand, but he’d done it before. Indra gave a silent acknowledgement as the man seemingly returned to his post when a voice spoke up. “If this mission goes as planned, what will you do with Orochimaru?” Beetle was sitting to his left, in his blind spot while Raven remained to his right, perfectly visible. Indra was pretty sure it was Beetle’s voice so he answered honestly.

“Keep him locked in seal he cannot escape, forced to watch as the world moves on without him. Despite his grand delusions about becoming a great wind to stir up change, he has always been stuck on the ground. A worm rather than a Wyrm. More a gecko than a dragon. But still alive, just in case.”

“Sounds appropriately ironic and cruel,” Beetle approved. Indra shrugged. “If you got to pick, what would you do?”

“Ooh, ooh!” Cat exclaimed. “Let’s have everyone answer and if it’s boring, they have to drink! That’ll put us to sleep.”

Pretending like the watered-down beer they had counted as alcohol was an amusing fiction, as far as Indra was concerned, but considering he planned to get Root agents rehabilitated as early as possible, this was a good test case. “I’m game,” he announced with a slight smirk and dug around in his pack for one of the cans with a cold storage seal on it. Pheasant and Raven joined as well while Beetle looked confused. “Well, Indra already said his idea, so we vote, I guess?”

Cat and Raven looked at one another across the fire and Indra swore the corvid beak chattered slightly in silent laughter. “Anyone who thinks Indra’s fate for Orochimaru is lame, raise a glass!” She raised her own can, as did Pheasant.

The Uchiha raised his one visible eyebrow and popped the tab on the can with his thumb. “Why?”

The auburn-haired man made a disapproving noise. “It’s pretty lame. So he’s just stuck in a glass box and gets to watch the rest of the world until he croaks? I mean, what you talked about sounds like it fits, but he’d still enjoy getting something to look at. I say, total sensory deprivation, like in Anbu training. Except for a lot longer than an hour.”

Apparently Cat was the game show host tonight. “Alright Indra, that’s two sips!”

Obligingly, Indra took two pulls of the watery beer. Nobody was getting drunk off of this, but their travelling cover story as a group of noble children “roughing it” with the peasants meant they had some interesting and extraneous items in their packs. Of course, nearly every one could be turned into a weapon with enough ingenuity, but at the moment, the beer was the important bit. “Okay, so who thinks Pheasant’s idea was lame?”

“Stop saying lame,” complained Beetle. “You sound like an old lady trying to be cool for the kids. It’s embarrassing!”

She threw her empty food tin at him as they both raised a glass anyway. Oh the simple joys of having two hands. Beetle gave his reasoning. “I mean, that would drive him mad, well, mad-der, but there’s no pain to it, just psych stuff! If there’s no pain, it’s not a real punishment.”

Indra made a skeptical noise as Pheasant lifted his mask to drink and everyone obligingly looked away. “Beetle’s suggestion then.”

The big man crossed his arms. “I say flay him alive with razor wire and heal him enough so he’s alive for it all. Then make him eat it. The whole snake motif he’s got going, with the eyes and the skin-shedding substitution jutsu, make him take it to its logical conclusion. An ouroubos, devouring itself forever.”

Raven let out a low whistle as Pheasant and Cat mulled it over. Pheasant raised his hand, like he was in school. “But that doesn’t kill him though. So he’s just going to eat himself, then get healed and do it all over again? What if the healer is really good and he doesn’t die? Or if they’re bad and he shocks out and dies first go?”

“We’re putting a lot of thought into these torture plans,” observed Indra who took a voluntary sip to hide his smirk. “I’m not so sure if I feel like letting anyone else take a watch tonight. Or any night, really.”

“You have to sleep sometime,” said Raven.

“I’ll just steal all your soldier pills and survive off those.”

“Your heart would explode” observed Beetle.

“I can live through that.” Maybe. If his Naruto could walk off getting impaled, he could too. Even after a lifetime and thirty years of marriage, Indra refused to accept that he couldn’t match Naruto when it mattered. If getting impaled mattered, then so be it. Otsutsuki arrows didn’t count.

When he hadn’t raised his can, this left Cat the only one against Beetle’s idea after Pheasant withdrew his objection and they turned away as the likely Akimichi drank what had to be half the can in one swallow. Show-off. He left his mask askew so they could see his dark-skinned, stubbly grin before he pulled it back on completely. “Raven’s next, and Cat’s last, because she started all this!”

“Are the big burly men going to gang up on me?” Cat put her hands to her mask in an exaggerated scream posture and twisted into something that might’ve been a cowering pose if you squinted. “Oh no, help! Oh, what is a lady to do when surrounded by such brutes! Save-me Indra-san!” She launched herself at Indra who decided a spilled drink was better than getting rammed by Cat and scrambled to catch her in his arm-stump grasp. She went limp, forcing him to carry all of her weight and he felt himself being driven to the ground with a groan. “I have no idea how your boyfriend stands you,” he muttered. Cat twisted around and launched off his shoulders to land primly back in her seated position by the fire as Indra’s butt slammed into the unforgiving log. That was going to hurt tomorrow, but he idly grabbed his can and looked to the masked figure. “Now she’s gotten that stupidity out of her system, what about you Raven? Any suggestions for Orochimaru’s fate? At this point I should’ve put a suggestion box in the Anbu HQ, we could have gotten creative.”

The cloaked figure shifted slightly as it sought a slightly less tough spot of rock then spoke in a curiously androgynous voice. “Get a list of all the experiments he’s done on people and perform as many as possible until he’s a quivering mound of flesh. Then, burn him.”

Pheasant shrugged while Indra raised his mostly-spilled glass at Raven in a toast. “I’ll drink to that one just because it’s a good idea.”

“Suitably ironic, painful, has a clear end-death state, yeah I can’t find anything wrong with it,” said Beetle and Cat nodded. “So it looks like Raven won’t have to show themselves after all.”

“I’ll drink, considering you all have been such good sports. Anbu rules, remember!”

They obligingly looked away though he saw Cat’s eyes roll sideways in the firelight as she tried to abuse what peripheral vision the masks provided, but it was apparently no use as her shoulders slumped.

“Alright,” came the voice, “now it’s Cat’s turn.”

“Well, I don’t know if I can come up with-“

“My clone’s gone.” Pheasant was on his feet, a kunai in hand and the others jumped up as well, weapons leaping to hands as Beetle spat a stream of water down that smothered the fire instantly with a hiss of steam. Indra drew his sword in a reverse grip, blazing Sharingan eye scanning the treeline. “Did you see anything? How it took you out?”

“Nothing, just pain at the base of the neck, then gone.”

The five Anbu put their backs to the firepit and closed ranks. In the time it took for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, they were vulnerable. Beetle’s voice was low. “Possible movement on my one o’clock.”

Raven was next. “Three o’clock, moving into your vision Indra.”

Indra pushed more chakra into his Eternal Mangekyo, but it was no use. The night-vision capabilities of the Sharingan were minor, and all the chakra did was give him a slight headache. “I’ve got nothing!”

All five of the Anbu were on guard, tense, wound up, even, but none of them panicked. That boded well for the raid, at least. Indra kept looking, but there was no movement, not even a glimmer of chakra. “Whatever’s out there has no chakra signature, totally invisible.”

“Don’t make assumptions!” snapped Cat as something in the forest beyond her rustled. At least it didn’t sound big, but that was a cold comfort. Something growled in the night and Indra frowned. “That sound like a wolf to you?”

“A pack of wolves? Are you kidding me?” exclaimed Pheasant.

“No assumptions!”

“We know, Cat, now shut up!” Beetle sounded frustrated and Indra didn’t blame him.

He saw two points of silvery-white that might’ve been eyes in the underbrush and launched a kunai at it with two fingers while the rest kept a hold of his sword. They heard the _thunk_ as the blade impacted wood and something moved away. Circling them.

A stalemate.

Raven spoke up, with that curious voice-that-wasn’t. “What jutsu would you possess to drive them out into the open, preferably without announcing our presence to the entire countryside? Ideas?”

Indra’s gaze didn’t break from the treeline. "Fire gives us visibility, but the same problem. Lightning is too bright. If I had solid eye contact, a genjutsu would be easy, but whatever’s out there isn’t letting that happen.”

“Same situation here,” said Pheasant, throwing four shuriken and producing only shredded shrubbery. “Our spilled drinks might work for a water jutsu, but that problem is range. Earth is too slow if the opponent is dodging ninja tools anyway.”

“A wall for us, though?” asked Indra.

“Announces us, like I said,” grumbled Raven.

“Screw this!” shouted Cat, flipping through handsigns. “Wind Style: Wind Scythe Jutsu!”

A nearly invisible line of air rippled as it carved through the woods, cutting through the trunks of three trees in front of her without pause. Something snarled again and beat a hasty retreat, but there were other shapes out there in the dark. Indra made an executive decision. “I’m pulling rank, we’re leaving. Grab your things, we head north at speed. If you get picked off, make it loud and visible. If you get killed, kill it back and walk it off.”

Because they were a bunch of professional Anbu, it took them less than five seconds to sling packs onto their backs and leap for the trees. Indra silently wished someone had an owl summon or a spontaneously evolved visual jutsu that shot lasers from their eyes, and ran faster.

Beetle had taken up the rear post, Indra the front, so he heard the man call out clearly in the silent night. “They’re following us, but sticking to the ground. We might be safe in the trees.”

He looked down and the Sharingan tracked ripples in the shrubbery as something accelerated up to match pace with five experienced Anbu. He shared this with the rest of the squad and they kept running north.

In the end, they ran for the rest of the night without stopping and their pursuers followed them every step of the way. Still, none of the Anbu saw hide or hair of them, even when dawn slunk into the golden canopy of their surroundings. In fact as the sun rose, the ripples in the brush trailed off until they simply ceased to exist.

Pheasant was making wheezing noises through his mask and Raven missed a branch and nearly fell to the forest floor until Indra swooped down and threw the agent upwards. When their assailants disappeared in the morning light, they all nearly collapsed onto whatever object they were currently occupying, but nothing leaped up at them or crawled up the tree trunks. Cat took a long pull from her water bottle and for once, Indra didn’t bother to look away.

“Okay,” he admitted. “Three hours, then we move. I’ve got first watch, since it was my turn last night.”

Raven curled into a ball and faced away from the sun. “If we just got chased fifty miles by a pack of wolves, I’m writing the damiyo to turn this forest into a strip mall.”

________________________

Their stalkers were back the next night, then the next. The five Anbu ran through every jutsu and trick in their arsenals. Chakra agitation and the Sharingan confirmed it wasn’t genjutsu, and their map confirmed they were making real progress towards the Land of the Rice Paddies. Dozens of techniques across all five elements failed to reveal their attackers or spill a single drop of blood. Just snarls and endless, endless movement. Pheasant and Cat saw the silver-white eyes as well and the former almost caught one in a genjutsu, but whatever it was shook off his will with an unsettling squelching noise that absolutely didn’t belong to wolves.

By the third night, Indra was done with subtlety and burned a circle of forest to empty, charred ground with the Majestic Destroyer Flame and as night fell, ringed the area with Amaterasu’s black flames for good measure. If nothing else, the flames kept them warm that night, but sleep was a fitful prospect at best. They were coming up on the border of the Land of Fire, two days away from Orochimaru’s Southern hideout and they were not at their best. Ordinarily, Anbu could run for days, on little sleep, and fight no problem. That’s why they were Anbu. But they were two days out from an encounter with an ex-Akatsuki member and they couldn’t afford to give Orochimaru even the smallest opening. Because he would use it to skewer them on Kusanagi and fashion a violin from their corpse, the sadistic bastard.

That night, they heard more squelching noises than snarls, like something vast and slimy was crawling through mud, even though it hadn’t rained in the last week. It was even creepier and the Anbu did their best to not let the sound get to them. Psychological warfare like that would’ve required months to get them to snap. Probably.

At one point two hours into his watch, Indra experimentally shoved a section of the black fire outwards, expanding the perfect circle into a lopsided oval. There was a great deal of squelching then a wet, fleshy _pop_ and the sound of several things sliding onto the grass. Indra focused and shoved the flames outward in all directions to a rapid crescendo of snarls, but there were no more _pop_ s that indicated any of the creatures had been caught in the flame. Indra drew his sword and elbowed the nearest dozing body, which happened to be Pheasant, who woke up with an inarticulate grunt and a swinging kunai. Indra’s eye glowed above him, a red lighthouse against the dark stars. “I think I might have got one, let’s go check it out.”

The ginger nodded and kicked at the Anbu agent to his right, which was Raven, and they walked off, swords naked in their hands and hearts pounding in their chests. They smelled it first and Phoenix gagged. “Ughh, what is that, a three week-old corpse dumped in half a spice rack?”

It did smell like something had rotted, but oddly spicy, with a burn in Indra’s nostrils that reminded him of Mist’s irritant jutsu used for riot control. He’d smelled it before.

When the sky opened up and the villages began to fall. When Kabuto’s Edo Tensei resulted in black sludge, screaming, and madness. “Otsutsuki,” he hissed through clenched teeth and ran black lightning down his sword. Lightning chakra coated with the Amaterasu cut through alien flesh like few other forces could, but it hadn’t always been a sure thing. “You read Briefing Three?” he asked Pheasant, who nodded. If that’s what this was, if Hagoromo had failed, or was dead, and the Otsutsuki who’d followed him to the past was fucking with them, they were dead meat walking.

They inched forward as Pheasant pulled out a small flashlight to supplement the flickering illumination Indra’s sword created. Somehow, as he clutched the small object in his off hand, the Anbu agent drew strength from it. “Okay,” he breathed. “Okay.” Indra felt every drop of sweat as it poured down his neck, every gust of night air, every miniscule sound their feet made as they stepped on the burnt, packed earth. Then, they saw it.

Something pale, naked and hairless had indeed popped and the shreds of skin lay glistening in the dirt. But as they watched, the skin that had covered the pulsating organs within was evaporating in the moonlight, vanishing into nonexistence without a sound. Pheasant shoved his blade underneath the largest flap of skin that had likely been the creature’s body and lifted it up, only to hear a hissing noise and the smell of spices as smoke rose from the blade. He dropped the weapon like it had burned him and they watched in silent horror. The skin dissolved the blade into a small pool of liquid metal and shards of alloy beneath it as it too, vanished into moonlight. Pheasant seemed to be struggling to speak.

“Look,” Indra pointed with his sword, “the organs are still there.” His companion gingerly picked up the remnant of his sword and they carefully picked their way around the remaining pieces of white flesh. The organs lay in a loose pile, as if they’d been dropped from perhaps a foot or two off the ground and hadn’t had time to scatter far. Some of them were still pulsating. Pheasant poked at one and it throbbed angrily in response, so he stabbed the thing and it had the mercy to die. Or at least, stop moving. He nodded and scraped the organ off in the grass. “Looks like only the skin is acidic. Defense mechanism?”

Indra stabbed the pile with his own sword and something inside it made the same squelching noise they’d been hearing for the last three nights. They shifted through the pile using their swords, scattering each piece so they could test them individually, but whatever it had been, the squelching organ had stopped as well. “Likely. Any of these organs look familiar?”

Even through the mask, he could feel the incredulous look Pheasant was shooting him. “I’m not a veterinarian, so no. You’re the one who fought these things before, any advice?”

They were keeping their voices low. Not quite a whisper, but something told them this was a subject best spoken about in hushed tones. Indra pointed with his sword at something fist-sized he’d shish-kebabbed along with two other organs. “Pretty sure that’s a heart, and the secondary heart attached to it. Wouldn’t keep it alive long-term, usually just long enough for a suicide attack.”

_The strike group had lost Chōjurō’s son that way, after he and Sasuke had ripped the heart out from one of the Otsutsuki and the Eighth Mizukage had died launching Sasuke away from the resulting blast radius._ Indra punted the memory back into the depths of Sasuke’s mind and focused on the impromptu dissection lesson.

“Some of them had this fleshy hood that allowed them to breathe in hostile environments. Gas, fumes, underwater, space.” Pheasant mouthed the word _space_ and his gaze strayed to the few remaining bits of flesh. “If this thing had that, it’s likely gone now.”

“It didn’t seem common, we only had two confirmed reports of it, one from my direct account and that was under severe duress.” (The Susano’o did not allow an Uchiha to breathe in space.)

“What did you fin-Holy Mother!”

“Yeah,” said Pheasant in a weak voice to Raven. “Don’t breathe through your nose.”

“I can still taste it!” There was a scuffling noise and a retching sound behind them as Indra rolled some of the other organs around. At least now they’d stopped moving. He narrowed his eye, allowing the Sharingan to look for any chakra remnants, but there was nothing. “No chakra systems, like we thought. Wild animals, non humanoid.”

“So you’ve seen these before?” The Uchiha shook his head, feeling every hour of missing sleep collapse onto his shoulders at once. “No. The heart’s the only thing I recognize and that’s because I ripped one out with a Chidori once. The disappearing acid skin is new and look, there’s no bones. Pretty sure the guys I fought had bones.”

Raven’s altered voice was difficult to parse, but he knew the figure was skeptical. “Pretty sure?”

Indra punted the heart into Amaterasu’s flames and it made him feel only slightly better, so he kept doing it with the rest of the organs. “I kicked them, something broke. Every time we tried to get a corpse to dissect, every Otsutsuki came barreling after the guilty party like a Sand ninja goes after desert chicken.”

“Vivisection?”

Indra let out a hollow-sounding laugh. “It was hard enough killing them as it was. At least whatever had these,” he launched the last gelatinous mass into the flames, “could be killed by Amaterasu. Popped like a balloon from the sound of it.”

“The flames which are the result of a dangerous and forbidden Uchiha bloodline technique that only three people in the world can possibly create?”

“Yes.”

Raven let out a string of quiet, but vehement curse words and Indra sympathized. Even for a Root agent, something this strange was getting an emotional reaction out of him, so the creep factor was off the charts. “Say nothing to the others.”

Indra spun on his heels to stare straight into the beaked mask. “We know they can be killed now, we know they exist and aren’t just an elaborate jutsu. We know of something that can kill them, isn’t that the most important part?”

“We also have no remaining physical evidence, unless you kill another one. The information without physical proof will prove distracting and psychologically detrimental in battle.”

Indra shoved at the fire again, but the creatures were evidently keeping well away from the wall of black fire now, if they were still around them at all. He couldn’t hear any more sucking noises, which was a blessing.

“I’m sure ignorance will be a blessing when they can’t figure out what’s killing them,” he replied acidly. Raven bowed. “No one has died yet, perhaps they serve some purpose beyond assault. A hunter beating a bush to drive prey into the archer’s sights.”

Archer's sights...

Indra dove to the ground as the realization hit him and Raven was close behind him. “What is it?” they hissed.

“The one who came after me before, who shot my eye out, was an archer. And I created a huge open field with infinite sight lines eight hours ago. We’re sitting ducks.”

Raven actually cocked their head as they considered the idea and for a moment Indra had the urge to laugh. Whoever was behind that mask was a very good actor. “Again, we haven’t died yet when the enemy has had hours to do so. Perhaps the ambush is ahead of us and these creatures are meant to drive us into it.”

“Still think we should say nothing?”

“…We’ll tell them there is a possibility of a long-range archer ambushing us within the next two days.”

“And we came up with this, how?”

“I believe Kidomaru of the Sound Five fits the profile. You had this realization standing in this empty field, as you did just now”

Indra thought and was almost surprised to remember that the spider-mimic did in fact fit the profile, which in turn led again to Orochimaru. Perhaps Orochimaru had found the weakened, dying Otsutsuki and harvested his DNA to create these abominations. Perhaps they were working together to kill him. Perhaps Orochimaru had now retired to live among the peaceful Moon Society descendant branch of the Otsutsuki Clan. But it would not do to speculate. “Fine. But you have to explain why Pheasant will drink every single item with alcoholic content in our possession, so that’s on you. Including the rubbing alcohol.”

“Pheasant is a seasoned and experienced Anbu agent, not a third-rate chunin who just got dumped.”

Indra threw up his arms in frustration as he stalked back to the camp. “Trust me, he absolutely will.”

When they were ready to depart the next morning, Indra slowly lowered the walls of Amaterasu before he extinguished them altogether. Cat silently handed him a tissue as his eye wept blood. “Does that always happen?” she asked softly, so only he could hear.

“Regularly during my divorce.”

Beatle sniggered, because he’d been a lucky bastard and gotten a good night’s sleep. The others determinedly ignored him.

The Anbu squad ran all day and only stopped at an abandoned village when the heavens opened up in the late evening. The stone walls and patchy roofs provided some shelter, so it was adequate for the time. Indra put up the protective Amaterasu circle, and attempted to create a roof of the stuff to incinerate the rain, but it just turned their little outpost into a sauna. For that he was assigned first watch. That night, there was no rustling of grass, no snarls, barks, or squelching noises. Only the rain. The part of Indra that sounded a lot like his Naruto said it was likely that his flame control the day before had scared the creatures off. Indra reminded himself that despite his position of Hokage, his Naruto had been an _Usuratonkachi_ and had absolutely nothing useful to say about star-spawned whatever-the-fuck-they-were. He might’ve tried to eat it. Pheasant was now murmuring in his sleep, when he’d been silent before. A potentially lethal trait for an Anbu agent, but under the circumstances, Indra didn’t blame him.

He wondered if taking a coworker in Anbu to get absolutely shitfaced was against the rules of his parental advice books. It probably was.

______________________________________

Their final day of travel dawned bright and early with an absolutely stunning sunrise to make up for the sudden chill in the air. Indra dug through his pack searching for a second layer to put on under his cloak and found a dark green pouch stuffed into the side of the bag. It was the same color as the canvas, so a casual glance had missed it several times over. He turned it over in his hands, but it was neatly wrapped in a thick paper, the edges covered in clear tape. That meant this wasn’t Naruto’s doing, though he was the most likely culprit. Even with experience and multiple chakra arms, he couldn’t wrap presents at all, which always, always made Sakura and Saskue inexplicably happy whenever he’d given them gifts.

He saw something glint and tilted the paper as ink in a neat hand was illuminated by the sunlight now streaming through the trees. _Stay warm,_ it commanded. The single scribbly heart and the large smiley face said who the other two gift-givers were and Indra was absolutely not going to cry in front of seasoned Anbu operatives before a mission. He wasn’t!

He compromised by letting the loud sound of torn wrapping paper cover the small noise he made and discarded the paper to discover a scarf. It wasn’t blue, orange, or even pink, but instead the same lavender purple of his kimono. The same formal kimono he’d worn to the Haruno household.

“Well,” he said to Cat’s questions, as he began wrapping it around his neck, “my wife always used to say I’d made purple into a good color just by wearing it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, who do you think is underneath the mask? Guesses, guesses! Which members of the team are Root? :D If you're also reading my semi-prequel story Crazy Stupid Love, you'll know but it's not required. I also fudged the Anbu numbers in this story, but it's whatever. They are going to take out a small village led by ninja Mengle, so it's warranted.
> 
> So, I took a little detour back into the cosmic horror/horror of the unknown with this chapter based on the firm belief an enemy is scarier when you don't see it or can't understand it. The classic example is in Signs, which is a genuinely spooky movie when you don't see the aliens and loses all tension once you do. 
> 
> Note: I also removed the Mikoto/Kushina tag for this story because that's not the main focus and it's a rare pair already, so people don't want "false positives" cluttering the tag. If they're only really mentioned in one chapter so far, then it's not relevant, is it. So, sorry for those of you who read this expecting more of them, that's what the prequel is for!


	27. Operation Harmony Pt 1: Fangs for the Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Showdown in the Sound Village

Among shinobi of all nations, there were unspoken customs you learned along the way. Plenty of people shouted the names of their attacks, from new genin to the Tsuchikage. Shinobi who wrote things on their flak jackets were destined to die an early death. There was no wrong way to wear a headband if the village symbol showed up somewhere on your person. And most importantly, the longer your hair, the more dangerous you were.

Most shinobi cut it close or kept it to shoulder-length. Any longer ran the risk of it getting set on fire, grabbed as an impromptu and painful grappling hook, or just getting a close cut from a volley of shuriken. However, some shinobi adamantly refused to allow anything like common sense to dictate their style and allowed their hair to grow long. Most of them died. The ones who didn’t die kept their long hair as something of a taunt. It said: I am such an exceptional shinobi, I can afford an obvious weakness like long hair. I am such an exceptional shinobi this hair has never been cut by an enemy blade. I am such an exceptional shinobi because I am better than you in every possible way including my sense of style. After the Fourth Great Ninja War, Indra had been sure that Madara and Hashirama had started the trend entirely on their own and it had grown (literally) from there.

All three of the Sannin? Long hair.

The Third Tsuchikage and the Fifth Mizukage? Long hair.

Half of Nagato’s corpse-puppets? Long hair.

Deidara, who had a very high opinion of his art? Long hair. And look at where he’d ended up twice now. Dead and beaten to a pulp, respectively. An example of someone who wasn’t ready for long hair, proving the theorem with his demise. Case closed.

So Indra felt perfectly safe wearing a long scarf that draped over his shoulder by a solid foot. He could manage. Besides, if anyone harmed a thread of his wonderful lavender scarf, well, that was all the motivation he needed to beat the stuffing out of them.

_________________________

The moment they crossed the border into the Land of Rice Paddies, designated only by a small fence alongside the road, every one of the Anbu felt an invisible weight lift from their shoulders. They began to run faster, leap farther, and Beetle let out a very un-Anbu guffaw as they passed over the reflective pool of rice fields. Cat began to sing something that was half marching-song and half nursery rhyme. The very air and sunlight felt stronger, more real, better in some way as it filled a hole none of them had realized they were missing. Indra glanced over to see Raven inscrutable as usual, while Pheasant started snapping his fingers along with Cat’s song.

“Wow, if I got Indra-san to smile, maybe I should quit Anbu and become a singer instead!”

“Huh?”

“You were smiling at me, right?”

Indra wasn’t aware he was smiling until his hand traced the contours of his face. A full open-mouthed smile showing teeth. He was lucky Cat hadn’t started screaming in horror.

“Aww, he’s gone already. Can we get cheery Indra-san back?”

“Actually, I think we should stop.” He held up a hand and the shinobi dropped down to land next to a road sign, a variety of arrows indicating roads which stretched all across the Land of Rice Paddies. Passing farmers and merchants looked curiously at them, as they removed their masks at Indra’s gesture. They looked at each other’s faces for the first time since the mission had begun. Beetle’s red hair and cleft chin marked him as an Akimichi, and he had a thick scar across his left cheek that had been stapled together. Cat’s purple hair fell around her elfin face in a way that made a passing farmer stare so long he walked into the fence and toppled over it. Raven, unsurprisingly, kept their mask and cloak on while-

 _Amaterasu Okami, divine goddess and mother to us all,_ Indra chanted as he set his eyes upon Pheasant’s face. _Protect this man from harm and give me the wisdom and the blind luck necessary to keep him alive today. Beautiful goddess who cannot fail, bring light to these blinded eyes, so that we may see your glory once more. Come tend to the broken, Shining Sun, for these are your children. Come paint the gardens again._

Pheasant was short because he was not a man. Pheasant was a teenager. With the given track record of teenagers in Anbu, that would have been bad enough (Thanks Itachi). But Pheasant was, specifically, a Yamanaka teenager Indra recognized from a Root file stamped DECEASED.

Pheasant was Fū Yamanaka.

Fū Yamanaka had been in the Konoha records as a stillbirth. Sai had mentioned it during his wedding speech and Ino had flung the mike off stage as the ex-Root members of the audience applauded politely while everyone else sank in their chairs.

Fū Yamanaka was alive and was on the most dangerous mass Anbu action in the last ten years. Indra felt what little blood there was in his face drain away. Inoichi was going to kill him.

Much later, when sewing up Cat’s arm, Indra would learn his shocked frozen silence lasted only two seconds of subjective time, and had barely been noticed, but right then it felt like an eternity. He blinked as the portion of his brain not screaming at him about the Yamanaka was screaming at him about something else. Something that was a much more active danger.

“Do you want to good news or the bad news first?” he asked the assembled group.

 ~~Pheasant~~ Fū Yamanaka crossed his arms in a manner that suggested “get on with it”.

“Bad news is, whatever weird shit that’s been happening for the past few days now has us overcompensating and now we’re going to be psychologically unbalanced for a major, major fight. Unless anyone here can suck out the memories of the last three days, we’re stuck with them.”

Pheasant Yamanaka didn’t raise his hand, but it did twitch. Beetle yawned. “We’re Anbu, psychological imbalance is a coping mechanism, so what’s the good news?”

“The good news is, I’m pretty sure the weird shit left us behind when we left the Land of Fire and our return journey will be re-entering all the way down from Tea Country, so whatever It was, It will have a harder time finding us.”

“Assuming those things aren’t tracking us some other way,” said Raven.

“Point taken, so we-“

“Excuse me,” said a thin, halting voice from behind them. The squad turned as one to see a man in plain brown workclothes holding a hoe in front of him with a defensive stance. “You lot wouldn’t happen to be shinobi would you?”

“No,” lied Beetle, “these fine nobles are on a drinking tour of the Minor Nations and I’m the idiot who got signed to escort them.” Cat let out a girlish giggle and playfully shoved at the massive man, who didn’t budge an inch. “Oh, Honoka-san, you’re so funny.” Indra and Pheasant joined in the laughter, but the man’s skeptical expression meant they weren’t fooling anyone. They really should have come up with more than a paper-thin disguise for the locals, but no one had given it serious thought when the whole point of their group was to be the noisy bait for Orochimaru. “And what about that one?” asked the farmer, pointing at the still hidden Raven.

“Oh him?” said Pheasant, “He’s a Fugu Monk we found in the mountains of Lightning Country who’s taken a vow to hide from the world. He was so interesting we decided to drag him along with us.”

Raven inclined their head to indicate this was so.

“Well, whoever you are, I heard you lot talkin’ about some critters chasin’ you and wondered if you knew any more than the rest of us. Is it some village thing? With those chakra critters you summon?”

The Anbu exchanged looks and Indra stepped forward. “Has something happened here recently?”

The farmer snorted and offered his hand. “I’m Goro, who’re you lot? Pleasantries first, like civilized men.”

“I’m Indra Uchiha, this is Nezumi, Fū, and the big man is Son Goku. We just call him Monk.”

The farmer nodded and out of the corner of his eye Indra saw Pheasant twitch again at the sound of his true name.

“Well, there’s been some queer events the last week or so, has the townsfolk up in arms. We sent word to those Sound Village fellows the damiyo hired a few years back and they came to check it out, then disappeared again. Didn’t help much either. Crops burnt up, dead animals, a few houses broken into. At first we thought it was some kids or those Sound ninja messing with us, but something ate two cows down to the bone.” He shuddered and grasped his hoe tighter. “If’n you lot are here to sort it out, we can’t pay you, but we’ll put in a good word with the headman and he’ll try getting the damiyo a bit more of your business.”

Indra felt Cat’s hand brush up against his thigh out of sight and make a quick series of hand-signs. Nice to know they were on the same page at least. “Well, seeing as how we’re not ninja, we can’t help you,” he said, putting on a snobbish air. “But I’m sure that with our superior noble education and Son Goku’s skills, we can put this to rights. Seeing as how we’ve drunk up so much sake these last few months it seems only fair, don’t you think?” The others made varying noises of assent and even Raven nodded their head. The farmer Goro’s weathered face broke into a cautious smile. “Well, I’ll lead the way then. Not much work getting done out in the fields solo during autumn.”

The group followed Goro down the road for a few miles, making horrible time by Anbu standards, but they took the time to investigate what they could. Cat, Indra and Pheasant played the part of wild and irresponsible nobles while Raven and Beetle maintained a veneer of dignity and intimidation. There were trails burnt through fields of mostly empty rice stalks and the water within the pools had an iridescent sheen Indra didn’t like the look of. They’d tested it and found no oil or increased acidity, but it was something, indeed. Goro pointed them to outlying houses that had been broken into, left riddled with wolf-sized holes. Smaller than most humans, but big enough several could take down an armed spearman with little difficulty. Even though the families of the houses provided their accounts, none of the peasants had gotten a clear view of one of the creatures either, for they always managed to remain just out of view. One particularly brave man had thrown an axe at the retreating trails in his rice field and hit something that caused snarls and more squelching noises. However, when he’d gone with his sons to investigate the next morning, they’d found the axe abandoned in the water, the blade mostly melted and bite marks on the handle where the creatures had pulled it out. He offered them the handle and the nobles who absolutely weren’t ninja bent to examine it. Beetle pointed at the spacing. “Way too big to be a wolf, right? They’re a handbreadth across, this is twice that.”

Pheasant picked it up and examined the teethmarks closely. “Mostly jagged, tearing strikes on the wood, so they’re carnivorous for sure. No molars or grinding marks.” He turned back to Goro, who’d gathered behind them with a small crowd of the curious, skeptical, and slightly afraid. “Do you still have that dead cow?”

The farmer shook his head and one of the men behind him muttered a prayer. “We burnt that right quick. Bad for the Gods, bad for the other animals, bad for the earth.”

Indra couldn’t agree more as he sat back on his haunches.

“Well, from what we can tell, your suspicions were correct, Goro-san. This isn’t any natural creature, so we’ll inquire at the Sound Village on our way to our next destination. I heard their Otokage has a reputation as a man who enjoys a good drink. If we hear more, we’ll send word to you, on my honor.”

Goro leaned on his hoe and looked skeptical, but gratified the people with money were at least interested enough to do something. “Thank you very much Uchiha-san. Your kindness is much appreciated. Indra waved a hand in a magnanimous gesture. “Nonsense, it’s the least we can do for you.”

“Damn right it is,” someone in the crowd muttered but they pretended not to hear them.

“Well, well, what’s this?” a new voice rang out and the crowd of villagers parted to reveal a trio of men in the black and purple uniform of the Sound Village’s chunin. Two had their features concealed by black hoods that hid everything but their eyes, while the leader’s face was visible and painfully recognizable to Indra. He grinned and strode forward to offer his hand to the man. “Roken Sabato, how the hells are you?”

The man and his subordinates looked bewildered, but Indra intended to keep them on the back foot for as long as possible. If there was to be a fight, he was going to get them all away from the villagers first. Mostly because it was what his Naruto would want him to do, but also because these people were also being victimized by creatures and if the Sound ninja knew anything at all about it, they also might have a solution. The man looked bewildered but recovered quickly and grasped his hand in a firm shake. “I’m afraid you have the advantage of me friend. You know me, but I don’t know you.”

Indra laughed and released the man, letting his arm drop back in a hand-sign for his comrades to stand down for the moment, but he could feel them quivering like plucked bowstrings behind him. “Of course you wouldn’t. We met in the Land of Wind, during that bar fight, remember?”

He was drawing on memories of the man when he’d been Sasuke’s subordinate in the Sound Village, in the aftermath of that nasty retrieval mission where he’d gone after his pregnant lover and Sasuke had been sent to bring them both in. They’d shared two bottles of sake in the underground bar Orochimaru allowed to exist for his ninja’s entertainment and most of the man’s drunken utterances were now the outlines of Indra’s supposed friendship. That bar fight was what had put the man on the path towards the Sound Village in the first place. With a start, Indra realized Roken was now roughly the same age as he was instead of ten years his senior. Bizarre.

They reminisced briefly about the horrible bars but wonderful people the Land of Wind had to offer until Roken seemed to accept whoever these people were, they were less likely to gut him within the next sixty seconds and he too motioned his men to stand down. “So, you say you’re touring the Minor Nations in search of better drinks?”

Indra shrugged. “Nezumi and Fū behind me insisted we find one last party before we marry and have to become respectable members of society, so here we are. And now we’ve found ourselves a curious little local mystery in the bargain!”

Pheasant held out the axe handle and Roken accepted it with a nod of thanks. “Well, we’ve been sent to figure it out too. Lord Orochimaru, the Otokage, may the winds favor his harvests, prepared this repellant he assured us will work.” He reached into his pouch and pulled out a sealed jar with greenish-grey sand inside. My subordinates have additional jars and we intend to spread it around the village and in the areas these creatures were sighted, which should drive them off. Something about the smell, apparently.”

Cat made an interested noise and floated up to lean on Indra’s good shoulder. “Well, this Lord Orochimaru sounds like such an interesting person, we’d love to meet him.”

Roken looked apprehensive. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea at the moment, ma’am. And I don’t have the authority to-“

“I sent word ahead a month or so ago,” said Indra, making a gamble. “I told Lord Orochimaru to expect us and that he should break out the quality wine for his favorite guest.”

At that, Roken’s expression vaulted from nervousness all the way into sheer terror as he looked Indra up and down again, taking in the black hair, bandage-wrapped face, and single visible arm. Indra gave a little smile and patted him on the shoulder. “Like I said, we’re old friends.”

Roken handed his jar of repellant back to his subordinate as his eyes roamed over the other members of their group, lingering longest on Raven’s ominous cloaked and hooded form. His voice was faint. “You two, spread the repellant as we were instructed. I’ll bring these guests to Lord Orochimaru at once.”

“Is the village far?” whined Pheasant. “We’ve been walking so long already, and I’d like to rest.”

“You were the one who didn’t want to pay for a carriage,” muttered Beetle in a brilliant bit of improvisation. Still committed to the disguises, bless the professionalism of the Anbu. Roken shuffled a little as he debated turning his back on Indra’s group, but finally did so to address the farmers. “As I said before, my fine fellows, Lord Orochimaru is thankful for the contributions you have made to the Sound Village and is committed to protecting the people of this land. If our repellant works as we hope it does, he will be having an audience with the damiyo in two months, if your headman wishes to pay his respects.”

There was some murmuring and a few appreciative claps, but the mood of the crowd was uncertain. They may have only been farmers and peasants, but the Sound Village hadn’t done much before this to endear itself to them. It was almost a shame the Leaf ninja weren’t going to give them the chance to earn the village’s trust. Almost.

Roken turned back and met Indra’s eye. Purely to be petty, Indra flashed his Sharingan at the man, who gulped. “Follow me then,” he said and sprang away. The Anbu set out at something between a brisk walk and a run until they were out of the villager’s sight, whereupon they pushed chakra into their leg muscles and caught up with the Sound chunin, leaving him in front as they donned their masks again. Cat winked at the man to put him at ease, but they all knew it was a false sense of comfort. He’d seen their faces, so his chances of survival went from unlikely to vanishingly small. “Don’t worry about it,” she chirped. “We’ll be civilized about this, so no need to do something stupid like attacking us.” Roken agreed and Indra sent a silent apology his direction. He’d hoped the man would be captured, but when compared to the stakes of the mission they were on, he wasn’t going to beat himself up over the corpse of a subordinate forty years distant. He had been the first subordinate to die on him back then as well, courtesy of Orochimaru’s idea of “corrective punishment”. A reminder then and now, to not get too attached.

Soon enough the other two Sound ninja approached from behind them as the sun began to climb down from its position high in the sky. It was past noon, thanks to the terrible time they’d made with their little detour to the farmer’s village, but they should still make it to the Sound Village before sundown. Roken’s subordinates hung back upon seeing their leader surrounded by the now unmistakable cloaked figures of Anbu Black Ops, but Raven and Pheasant fell back and soon corralled them up to run next to their leader as meat shields. The silence among them was oppressive, so of course Cat broke it. “So what’s the deal with these creatures Sabato? The snake have a jailbreak or is this some fucked up field test?”

The chunin cast her a fearful look and clamped his mouth shut.

“Oh, come on, they chased us for three days through the Land of Fire then broke off once we hit your neighborhood. We wanna know!”

Roken’s surprise confirmed that this hadn’t been on purpose. Or if it was, he hadn’t been told about it. “By the Wind, they’ve already spread that far?”

He ran a hand through his short brown hair as his subordinates gasped in horror as well. “If they’re giving even Anbu trouble, then what are we supposed to do?”

“I didn’t say they were giving us trouble,” said Cat waspishly. “Just that they chased us.”

A muscle clenched in the Sound chunin’s jaw but he responded. “Did any of you kill one?”

Beetle and Raven answered at the same time, the “No” and “Yes” overlapping. Heads swiveled to the hooded Anbu and Indra resisted the urge to set the figure on fire. They were playing games with him and he hated it. Roken gaped at Raven but swallowed his awe. “So you know what they look like then,” he said, his voice heavy with resignation.

“Another one of Orochimaru’s experiments gone right, no doubt,” said Beetle with anger in his voice. Roken looked torn but nodded. “Probably, but at least he sent us out with that repellent, so thee Otokage hasn’t abandoned the villagers yet.”

“He needs them to provide the village with food and is using them as his guinea pigs!” spat Indra, remembering Naruto’s distaste for that title. “That’s sociopathy, not the sign of a Kage. His pretensions taint the role itself!”

“He’s taken us in, when he didn’t have to!” argued one of the masked subordinates, a naïve statement which was greeted with the disgusted silence it deserved. The man shrank into himself and said nothing more.

Soon enough they reached the forest which held the main hideout in the late afternoon. The thick canopy permitted only the weakest sunbeams through and the entire area was shrouded in shadow. There was no sound of animal life common in a forest, from the small rodents or rabbits in the brush to the presence of boars, or even unchallenged predators like wolves or the occasional bear. Even the insects had fled from the place. It was the same way when Sasuke had arrived at the hideout decades before, as the obscene experiments below contaminated the very soil with misery, fear, and cruelty. Ideally, they would have to hire a priest to bless the area when their bloody work was done. But the blue-roofed gateway down into the earth, topped by snake carvings, was in sight. Behind him Pheasant let out a noise that could easily be mistaken for a bird call and received several others in return.

The first wave of Anbu Orochimaru would be expecting were there already. Good. Both the Leaf and Sound had several months to plan for this day, even if they didn’t know the exact timing and had prepared strategies accordingly. These acid-fleshed creatures were a wrinkle, but that’s why Danzō had insisted on majority Anbu squads. When the shit hit the fan, this would change from a game of calculated tactical Go moves to speed shogi. Instantaneous judgements would force errors on both sides, which would require faster and faster responses as the number of combatants increased and corpses began to pile up.

Their three hostages jerked in surprise as a lavender blur sped past them in midair, directly in front of the Anbu and as the group landed on the grass in defensive crouches, the three Sound ninja collapsed to the ground. One of the masked men was clutching at his throat, trying in vain to stem the blood and Indra ended the man’s suffering with a thrust of his blade.

“You didn’t have to go to the effort, Indra Uchiha. It would have been rude of me to inconvenience our guests.”

The blur resolved itself into a tall pale teenager with long white hair, an open-chested lavender haori and sea green eyes surrounded by red paint. His expression was calm, untroubled by the spray of arterial blood that sliced across his face and he wiped it away with one hand as the white blade he’d used disappeared into his sleeve. He offered a short bow and gestured in the direction of the tunnel. “Lord Orochimaru has been expecting you, so allow me to show you the way.” Indra looked back and saw the Anbu behind him. Cat was the only one he could truly call a comrade, but he saw every one of them nod and tighten their grips on the various swords or kunai in their hands. Into the belly of the beast, then. Indra turned back to see Orochimaru’s executioner waiting patiently. “Very well. Lead on.”

The Sound Village’s headquarters in the Land of Rice Paddies was vast, stretching for several miles of tunnels that intersected, sloped down or up, twisted and turned in a way that made them nearly impossible for an enemy to navigate swiftly. Secret passages were used to direct Sound ninja to contain any invaders, but mostly their targets were prisoners using their experimental abilities to attempt an escape. The boy led them deeper and deeper into the tunnels and at each junction they passed, Indra crossed off one or two more meeting rooms from his list. He’d lived here for years after all, and knew most of the system as well as any Sound ninja, for he’d once spent three days wandering its halls with an active Sharingan, mapping it out, just in case he’d had to flee. A lifetime later, his caution had paid dividends.

Ordinarily, a small invading force heading underground, into enemy territory, with hundreds of enemy shinobi hidden around was a death sentence. But because of Indra’s maps, they were on an even footing. If Orochimaru sought to trap them, he was in for several surprises. They heard distant screams, the murmur of conversations behind closed doors, and two Sound genin flattened themselves against the walls when they saw Indra’s little procession. “Ki-Kimimaro-san!” one of them sputtered and the pale teenager paused to ruffle the girl’s hair and give her a small smile. “It’s no problem, Kin. Lord Orochimaru’s been expecting them. You head down and see if Issho has any leftovers from lunch.” The girl smiled, stuck her tongue out at Indra and ran down the hall. He felt, more than saw, the Anbu behind him turn their heads to follow her movement, but Indra kept his eye fixed on the teenager in front of him.

With Kabuto out of the way, and Orochimaru next on the chopping block, Kimimaro Kaguya was easily the most dangerous person in the Sound Village. He’d heard quite a bit about the man from Jugo, and during the initial few months of Sasuke’s arrival, many Sound ninja had scorned him as a poor replacement for Kimimaro. To lose a kind boy with terrifying power and loyalty to Orochimaru to gain a surly, glaring Sasuke Uchiha, many of them felt it had been a poor trade. From that brief exchange, Indra was inclined to agree with them, purely on principal. Kindness was a rare commodity in the Sound Village, but it was there. Of course, as the three corpses on the surface testified, kindness was relative. Beetle spoke up. “Kimimaro of the Kaguya Clan, huh? Lots of legends about you in the Mist Village these days.”

“Legends doubtless amplified in the telling,” said the boy softly but with scorn. “I defended Lord Orochimaru and myself, nothing more.”

Indra silently hoped that “defending Orochimaru” did not include the Piercing Ashen Bones technique Kaguya Otsutsuki had employed. It had turned Obito to dust and from the moment the bone pierced the body, death was certain. Even with his skills and several Anbu backing him up, Indra did not want to deal with that again.

They turned right and down a flight of steps as the tunnel opened up to become a vast two-laned causeway which led to the largest space in the Sound Village: the prison yard. Buried deep beneath the ground, the area was two stories high and surrounded by jail cells that held prisoners either by Clan, by nation, by blood type, or some other esoteric means. Orochimaru’s needs for his next experiment changed rapidly and the disoriented prisoners were often shuffled around, as much to prevent organization and escape attempts as anything else. The reinforced steel doors opened to reveal a deserted stone space, surrounded by dozens of cells, their doors wide open and gaping, seeking fresh new bodies to fill them. In the center of the room were a series of chairs grouped around a wooden table, beyond which sat the very man they had come so far to find.

“Lord Orochimaru,” announced Kimimaro, his voice ringing in the vast space, “Indra Uchiha and his bodyguards are here to see you.” He turned back to the group, who still stood, clutching their weapons in tight grips. “I’m afraid you will leave your weapons inside their sheathes for the duration of this meeting. Otherwise, we shall have to disagree and that could make things unpleasant for all of us.”

Indra snorted and sheathed his sword at his hip as the others followed with varying degrees of caution, save for Cat. Kimimaro stepped closer to her, his hand disappearing up his voluminous sleeve while his eyes sought hers beyond the mask. “I insist.”

Indra turned slightly to put Cat into his peripheral vision. “It’ll be fine, Cat.”

“Right up until it’s not,” she muttered and sheathed her short sword in a manner that suggested she wanted to find other places to bury it.

“Now now,” came the silken voice of Orochimaru, “let’s not spoil such an interesting meeting before it’s even begun. After all, we have so much to talk about.” He beckoned and Indra moved forward to take the center seat as the Anbu fanned out around him. Cat was on his blind side, followed by Raven, with Beetle and Pheasant on the other. Kimimaro bent behind Orochimaru’s chair and produced several clear, thin glasses which he distributed as well as a large dark bottle. Indra raised his one visible eyebrow as Orochimaru smiled. “You did warn me to break out the quality wine, and I thought it best to honor such an auspicious guest. As my reputation precedes me, I thought a gesture of trust was in order.”

He held the bottle out and Indra could see the paper seal above the cork was unbroken. The bottle had not been tampered with, so Indra nodded. He’d been metaphorical when he’d spoken to Kabuto, but if Orochimaru wanted this, he could play along.

“I’ll have a glass, then. Out of curiosity, what is the vintage?”

Orochimaru handed the bottle to Kimimaro, who extruded a corkscrew-shaped bone from his fingertip and proceeded to open the bottle with a satisfying pop of a releasing seal. The boy poured two glasses and placed the bottle back on the table as Orochimaru named the vineyard and year and Indra nearly smiled at the irony. It was the same bottle of wine Orochimaru had given him on his fifteenth birthday, all those years ago. The day just kept resonating in strange ways…He raised his glass. “I propose a toast then, to Fate, which has brought us together.”

“To Fate, which allowed you to survive the massacre of your Clan.” Orochimaru raised his glass and tapped it gently against Indra’s and both men drank deeply. “I must, say, I am most curious to hear how you survived dear Itachi that night, especially since you’ve been impressively absent these last few years. I had my people go through a great many records, but they couldn’t find an Indra Uchiha anywhere or even someone fitting your description. So where did dear Danzō hide you away in the meantime, hmmm?”

“Oh, I hid myself, mostly. It took some doing, but I learned all about the organization you and Itachi joined and had the most disappointing encounter with their leader this year. I’m sure your spies heard about that. Which reminds me,” Indra plastered a look of fake concern on his face, “How is Kabuto? He ran off so quickly, and he seemed like such a smart shinobi. I was hoping to speak with him further.”

Orochimaru sipped from his wine glass to conceal his irritation, if not his anger. “You’d know better than I, Indra Uchiha. Considering you managed to burn him alive from hundreds of miles away. The Sharingan is always full of surprises, isn’t it?”

Beetle, Raven and Pheasant shifted in their seats and he could feel them looking at him curiously through their masks. Indra allowed himself a typical Uchiha smirk, the kind Orochimaru would take as a measure of overconfidence. “It is, even for the Uchiha Clan’s Bloodline Enforcer, which is why I was so disappointed to hear my half-brother had run off with the Clan’s scrolls on Sharingan variations. He wouldn’t have happened to show them to you did he? Secrets from one murdering sociopath to another? The Akatsuki sounds like such a friendly organization. But the Rinnegan, now I think that’s much more interesting.”

Later, Cat would swear she saw Orochimaru begin to drool slightly and in the moment, Indra agreed with her. The snake’s hunger became a physical thing, flowing from him to engulf the Anbu in waves of desire and greed. All throughout, he retained that same half-smile, while those golden eyes retained that mix of cruelty and mockery. Indra couldn’t wait to impale that face.

“At last, we get to your generous offer. How you know of my interest in that eye is also something I intend to pry out of you. Where did you come by such knowledge?”

Indra swallowed the last of his wine and placed the empty glass back on the table. “Well, an eye that could see the future tends to be quite helpful. Such a shame Madara Uchiha took it out of my head when I tried to stop him from cracking our world like an egg.” He sat back and watched as the naked shock blasted past the false amiability Orochimaru had tried to project. Surprise. Disbelief. Consideration. Suspicion. That Hunger, to acquire, to create, but above all to _know_. The Sannin bared his teeth and hissed at him, hands clenched on the throne. The Anbu’s arms disappeared behind their backs as Kimimaro drew a bone blade from within his own arm.

“You lie!” Orochimaru hissed. “In all my research, the Sharingan has never shown such potential. Not even the legends of the Sage of Six Paths hint at such a thing.”

Indra tensed his leg muscles, ready to move if the Sannin decided to try something rash, like stealing his remaining eye, but the need for more information kept them alive. His voice was grim. “As you’re aware, the Mangekyo Sharingan’s powers are varied, but they have their price to pay. And this one’s price was dearly bought indeed.” He didn’t even want to think his daughter’s name too loudly in a place like this, but it was the truth, in a roundabout sort of way. “Of course, it comes with heavier burdens than blindness. You might have encountered one by chance, recently. Pale acidic skin, strange noises, difficult to kill? Ring any bells?”

Now it was his turn to fish for information. “Your man was quite talkative before Kimimaro killed him. Apparently, the idea of their spread to the Land of Fire was sufficiently horrific to overcome his fear of punishment, so we’re left to wonder exactly what it is you get up to here? A man who could create such creatures is not one I would trust with the sacred Rinnegan.”

Orochimaru sat back and leaned on his hand, staring at Indra for a long while in silence. He’d been quiet for so long Indra had suspected a covert Body Substitution, but the Sannin spoke once more. “I’m beginning to think your knowledge makes you more dangerous than helpful, Indra-san. Now, tell me what your proposal is, and I will decide if you will retain your last precious eye.”

Here it was: the tipping point for not just Orochimaru, but the entire Sound Village. Indra took a deep breath and stepped off the cliff. “You are the foremost expert on Hashirama cells in the Five Great Nations. You cultured them, cultivated them, and implanted them into sixty children on Shimura Danzō’s orders. Are you aware of the Akatsuki spy, Zetsu? Black and white plant man, rather obvious? “

Orochimaru nodded.

“Find him, capture him, seal him, imprison him in whatever ways you can, the black and the white separate if necessary. You will find the white one to be an artificial human, composed entirely of Hashirama cells. Clone him, and you will have all the bodies you will ever need. You will do this and you will relinquish your vengeance against the Hidden Leaf village and your master, Hiruzen Sarutobi. If you do this, and are true to your word, I will give you a cellular sample of my eye, the fully matured Mangekyo Sharingan you have long desired. From there, it is a simple matter to unlock the Rinnegan, provided its custodian finds you worthy.”

If Hagoromo still lived, Indra was fairly sure he would never bequeath that eye’s power to a creature like Orochimaru, though Indra would pay good money to hear that conversation. If Hagoromo was dead(er) then the idea was doomed anyway.

Orochimaru listened in silence and then smiled. Indra had never let his guard drop, but that smile simply raised his suspicions to new levels. It had never, ever meant anything good. Orochimaru’s voice was back to its sickly sweet tone, dripping with condescension. “Such interesting ideas, from such an interesting shinobi. But a thought just occurred to me. Dear Itachi’s eyes are beyond my reach, as are the eyes of the one called Pain. You only have one eye, one arm, and are in my fortress at this very moment. Why could I go to all that trouble for you, when you are already here, ripe for the taking?” He rose to his feet and spread his arms wide to indicate their little group. “And you’ve brought me such strong, healthy test subjects too! I will enjoy seeing how long they last with cloned eyes in their heads.”

Indra remained seated, even as the Anbu around him likewise lept into battle stances. He stared coldly up at Orochimaru and crossed one leg over the other, bringing it below the table in front of him. “I would have thought burning your chief spy alive was a sufficient warning. Perhaps I’ll need to remind you!”

He kicked up, sending the table, the glasses, and the wine bottle flying at Orochimaru, obscuring his sight. Instantly, Indra rolled to the side over the armrest as a blade extended through the table and swung down, carving both the table and chair in two. Indra had drawn his own sword and laced it with Amaterasu’s black fire when he heard the clash of steel on steel as Cat and Raven launched themselves at Kimimaro, who had sprouted blades from what seemed like every square inch of his flesh. He heard a faint _vmmm_ and flipped backwards as Orochimaru’s extended Kusanagi blade swung sideways, passing over its extending reach as something impacted the spot he’d been standing with tremendous force. The concussive impact threw him back even further, but Indra turned the fall into a handspring and was soon upright with his own blade at the ready. Inside the crater was a massive golden arrow the size of a man, still quivering with the force it had been fired with. Tracing the arc of its fire backwards, past Orochimaru, who was performing his “regurgitate the sword” routine, he could see the far wall behind the Snake sage had been blasted apart by some colossal force. Three vast demonic figures charged from the hole, followed by three teenagers in the beige and purple ribbons of Orochimaru’s elite. The Sound Ninja Five.

His eye tracked movement behind the vast demons and another massive golden arrow drove across the space with such force the air around it screamed in protest. Indra ran forward, both to get inside Orochimaru’s range and limit Kidomaru’s sniping opportunities, but as he moved, the arrow shifted mid-flight along with him. The Sharingan’s predictive qualities told him the arrow would bury itself right in his chest unless he did something, so he added lightning chakra to his own sword and braced for the hit.

Chakra-hardened thread that could penetrate concrete collided with honed lightning chakra and a sword forged by samurai masters in the Land of Iron. Indra dug in his heels and poured chakra into his arm as the force of the arrow drove his sword and his arm back towards his chest. Even as the arrow crept closer, however, Amaterasu was already creeping along its length, devouring it entirely. He felt a furrow being ground into the concrete and saw the thin silk thread that led back to the multi-limbed archer, whose demonic face grinned at him and gave a cocky wave. So, the Sound Five had cursed seals, then. That meant poor Jugo was here, as he’d feared.

His eye bled once more as black fire bloomed into existence along Kidomaru’s bow, but then Orochimaru was upon him.

The stolen sword of the Land of Grass met Indra’s own with a harsh screech and the crackle of chakra as Indra’s lightning broke apart under Kusanagi’s edge. Indra kicked out, but Orochimaru twisted around effortlessly to send his sword at Indra’s neck from the opposite angle. His unarmed side was an obvious weakness, but Indra had trained and fought for decades this way and brought his sword up in a vertical guard, arm reaching over his head as his stump braced the back of his own blade.

They strained against the deadlock, gauging the other’s physical strength, then disengaged in a cloud of sparks. Orochimaru spun his sword in his hands with a needless flourish, always a showman. Or perhaps it was meant to intimidate. Either way, Indra wasn’t impressed. “You know,” he called out as he pulled two kunai from his pouch and flung them up to spin in the air, “I thought you would go for something a bit more dramatic.” He kicked one at Orochimaru and stuck the other one to the underside of his foot with chakra as he leaped forward in a spinning blow he’d borrowed from Killer Bee. “Five teenagers aren’t reinforcements.”

Orochimaru blocked and Indra kicked away the riposte with his kunai, allowing the blade to launch itself on a diagonal path that forced his opponent into a poor stance to avoid it hitting his own foot. Indra swung twice more while he was upside down and when neither of those blows got through, stabbed his sword into the ground to vault himself up and over Orochimaru. He landed, breathing hard as the demonic creatures behind him roared in pain and he heard Cat’s shout of triumph. Orochimaru licked his lips and stabbed out several times, forcing Indra to dodge the extending blade once more as snakes nipped at his heels. “Oh, they were never my reinforcements,” Orochimaru crooned. “These are.”

From every darkened cell came a rain of soft wet noises as bodies fell to the floor from somewhere else, followed by a cacophony of snarls as hundreds of white, fleshy creatures poured out of the cells, hungry for flesh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I bring back bit characters nobody remembers! First, we've got that Roken Sabato guy Indra remembered way back in Ch 16, and we've got Kin, the girl Shikamaru bodied in the Chunin Exam preliminaries, with the sound needles. She's going to have a great time. Fû Yamanaka too, the guy who worked for Danzō and who Obito sacrificed to test the Reanimation Jutsu, now has a role to play. I wonder how many people saw that coming?
> 
> Also, I know wine really doesn’t exist in feudal Japan or the Narutoverse, but Orochimaru just seems like such a wine person. It’s snobbish and requires you to know all sorts of dumb little details, about flavor and soil quality, it would be right up his alley. Sorry if it takes you out of the scene, just let me have this.
> 
> And finally, I'm sure everyone saw the ending coming, it was fairly obvious, but I wanted to build tension throughout the scene, though I'm not sure it came across effectively. As always, let me know what you think, and don't worry there's more to come! Apologies for the horrible pun as a chapter title.


	28. Fire and Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, back at the Uchiha Estate...

To Indra’s credit as a clairvoyant guardian, he had left Kakashi a small, but heavily annotated list of possible outcomes titled “Just In Case”, which the jonin had read and then proceeded to have a small heart attack. The first one, in bold and underlined twice was simple:

 **In event of Itachi sighting, chain Sasuke to a tree and have Naruto and Sakura sit on him. Keep him there until I return**. In comparison, the rest of them were almost normal. _If people in Akatsuki robes show up, grab the children and run for the Hokage. If the Nine-Tails escapes, use your Sharingan to stop it. If Naruto eats all the food by Wednesday, there is extra grocery money taped behind the clock in the kitchen. If there is an argument and none of them are speaking to one another, ask Inoichi Yamanaka for help._

Fortunately for his sanity, the structure of the ninja academy meant the ninja-in-training were mostly occupied with classes or with training. He’d pitched in as their after-school instructor in the afternoons and with all three of the little hellions attacking him with wooden weapons, it made for a satisfying training session. For him. Naruto and Sakura were vocally frustrated his eyes never left the Icha Icha book in his hand and Sasuke had been infuriated that not even Itachi’s _perfect_ kunai deflection jutsu could touch him. Once or twice, he could have sworn that the boy’s eyes were glowing red, but by the time he’d lifted his own headband to check, they were back to the solid black they normally were. When it came to ninjutsu training he’d put all three of them through the Leaf Adhesion and wall-walking exercises but despite a few close calls nobody had broken anything and remained simply bruised, sore, and grudgingly satisfied with their training.

The more time they spent around him, however, the less respect he received. Maybe it was his habitual lateness, where they ended up walking one another to school. Maybe it was Indra’s insistence he keep the lessons simple, which threw out most of his rudimentary lesson plans designed for new Anbu recruits. Maybe it was the fact he kept handing them their butts? Well, they hadn’t even graduated the Academy and he was an ex-Anbu. No, that wasn’t it, they’d never glared this much at Cat, had they?

However, it wasn’t all training. He’d investigated, (not snooped, investigated) Indra’s room and found four parenting books absolutely crammed with small notes in Indra’s cramped, slightly wobbly hand. Some of them made sense, most of them didn’t. The section on parenting traumatized children was heavily annotated in blue ink, especially _inability to form friendships, low self-esteem, and emotional regulation._ Which were followed by Indra’s notations: _thanks Itachi_ , and the last two were simply circled with an arrow pointing to the words _divorce fallout_. Kakashi practically flung the book back into Indra’s nightstand as something approaching A Feeling curled its way around his heart and squeezed. He searched for something else, anything else, and came up with a list of _Good Childhood Memories_ half buried underneath several other sheaves of paper _._ Excellent, something to steal from for ideas. It was empty.

Somehow, that was worse.

Unwilling to rifle through any more of Indra Uchiha’s emotional detritus, Kakashi stepped away and brushed down his arms as if they were covered in dust. Time to use some of that lauded genius intellect on something that wasn’t killing people. Alright, what did people do for fun? He mentally trawled through his Icha Icha collection in his mind.

People went to restaurants, they watched movies, they went to hot springs, they met attractive strangers in coffee shops- wait no. They went shopping, they read books, they listened to music, they got drunk-wait no.

The former Anbu sighed behind his mask. He’d been perfectly fine with constant missions as a child and sure his father’s death had been tough, but Minato had been there, and there was a war going on anyway so… His train of thought sped off into the distance as he tried to remember the rare moments with Minato and Kushina when they hadn’t been training, on a mission, or recovering from the first two. What had they done together? What could he pass down to their son, and to his friends?

“Kakashi?”

He turned on his heel to see a deeply skeptical Sasuke crossing his arms and looking like he was torn between two equally piercing questions. Kakashi spared him the trouble and held up the nearest piece of paper he could find, which unfortunately was the blank _Good Childhood Memories_. “Just looking to see if your uncle had any ideas for what we could do on Saturday, that’s all.”

“We can’t train?”

Kakashi gave an exaggerated yawn and stretched his arms behind his head to surreptitiously drop the paper before Sasuke got a good look at it. “Well, not that I don’t enjoy kicking your butts around the dojo, but I figured we should try something different for a change. You know, get out and see a bit more of the village.”

“And did he have any ideas?”

Kakashi’s Anbu senses detected a test and his mind raced through his happy memories at lightning speed. He could introduce them to Might Guy, who would doubtless have several boisterous ideas for “Enjoying the Springtime of Youth” but that was also a bit too close to training for Kakashi’s comfort. He also shuddered to think about exposing children to Guy would accomplish. If Indra came back to find any one of them wearing green jumpsuits, Kakashi was sure someone would lose their head. He realized he’d let the silence stretch for too long because Sasuke had let out a quiet sigh and turned to leave.

“I was thinking about a picnic.”

Kakashi’s brain stuttered, threw itself into reverse, and then surged into motion once again. Where in the world had that come from? From what dark, repressed corner of his memory had-

He remembered Kushina approaching their training ground through the trees, a basket on her arm and a blanket over her shoulder as he had watched Obito and Rin spar. The day before the mission to Kannabi Bridge, when he’d told everyone he’d made jonin. Before everything fell apart, there had been a picnic.

In the tragedy of his life, Kakashi knew, his happiest moments had always been followed by the saddest, but for some reason he’d forgotten this one entirely. Perhaps because at the time, it had seemed so simple, so unremarkable. Kushina had shared food with them before other missions, she had wished them good luck. They had always come back before. Suddenly Kakashi realized what his brain had been trying to tell him this entire time. These kids deserved something good from him, something more than just stories and training. Something they could hold on to, like he’d held onto Obito’s gift and then Obito’s hand, before the end had come. Something good to drive them through the darkness Indra had said was to come.

Sasuke had frozen in the doorway, his back to Kakashi and the jonin figured similar emotions must be swirling through the boy’s own head. He gave a short, jerky nod back at Kakashi, his eyes hidden in his hair and strode off at a pace slightly below a run. Kakashi figured it was better not to follow him. Besides, if he was going to throw together a picnic, he had a great deal of shopping to do.

_________________________

When Sasuke had told the others, their reactions were what he’d expected. Sakura was happy to spend more time with them, especially him, and Naruto had been excited at the prospect of more food. Sasuke just didn’t see the point. Why take everything out of the kitchen, away from a perfectly serviceable table and a warm house to unpack it on a blanket and freeze to death outside?

It was something so irrational, so very Kakashi, Sasuke knew all four of them would be at each other’s throats sooner or later. Something would go wrong, because something always went wrong. His uncle would never return from this mission, or he’d stumble out of the trees covered in blood and missing his other arm, or-

Sasuke staggered out of the kitchen and towards his room, hand clutching at his chest as it suddenly filled with sharp icy daggers. He noticed he was breathing hard and allowed his knees to give out under him even as he slid the door closed behind him at the sound of footsteps.

“Hey Sasuke, you hear that? Sounded like something fell over.”

“It’s nothing,” he gasped, straining to force his voice into the disaffected drawl they’d come to expect from him.

“Uh, okay?” came Naruto’s voice and he could hear Sakura’s murmurs as she said something he couldn’t catch. He had to send them away, he had to-

“Hey Sasuke, we’re gonna-we’re gonna just stick around here for a bit okay?”

Even as he struggled to breathe a part of Sasuke still felt exasperated at the Uzumaki’s obvious density. What, just sit in the hallway?

“I’ll work on my calligraphy,” he heard his voice say, distantly, somehow sounding perfectly normal as his chest felt like it would tear clean in two. Now he had both hands on his chest, following the movement of his breath, massaging the muscles, trying to get at whatever had so obviously gone wrong inside him. Gods it hurt. Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and twisted his face into a grimace even as his mouth fell open. He was not going to cry. He’d sworn to never cry again after That Night, so why was this? Some stupid little gimmick Kakashi had thrown together suddenly so painful? Was it some sort of genjutsu?

Absently he heard two sets of footsteps on the wooden floor outside, one coming, one going.

“What’s all this?” he heard Kakashi ask in the mildly bored way that meant he was curious.

Naruto made a noncommittal noise. “Well, Sasuke said he was gonna practice calligraphy, so Sakura an’ I are gonna play cards out here.”

“In the hallway?”

Sasuke silently thanked the grey-haired idiot for asking the obvious question even though this was obviously all his fault in the first place. A fresh stab of pain tore through him and he almost doubled over, though the Uchiha stayed silent.

“Ehh, I think you’ve kind a trained all the fun outta us today Kakshi-sensei. Besides, I’m no good at genjutsu and Sakura-san’s no good at taijutsu.”

“I’m just fine at taijutsu,” replied the returning girl, the noise of shuffling cardstock coming from the door. “You two are just crazy about it.”

A soft chuckle came from their substitute guardian/bodyguard. “When I introduce you to Guy someday your view of crazy dedication will change quite a bit Sakura.”

“Who’s that?”

“Just an old friend. But I won’t keep you.” There was a soft woosh of air as the Copy Ninja shunshined away down the hall.

There was silence from the hall as Sasuke tried to focus, tried to push his hands down to regulate his breathing, trying to force his body to obey, but each attempt sent another flood of cold pouring through him and it became harder and harder just to keep his eyes open. He was not going to pass out and die on the floor like this, from some stupid illness. He refused!

He wasn’t going to let Naruto and Sakura, or Kakashi, or his uncle find him like he’d found-

He let out a harsh gasp and folded over himself, nearly bent double on the floor. He would not die, until he’d killed Itachi, or at least died in the attempt! Sasuke thought of his brother, of those ruthless red eyes, lined with red veins, of the blood-spattered sandals, the torn sleeves. The charcoal and linen sketches of his clan members falling around him as his brother showed him the Massacre in its full, horrifying detail. Now, the cold in his chest was thawing, its icy heart slowly being supplanted by rage, the same burning rage that was the sole reason for his existence. He would kill Itachi, with his own blade, with his own hands, he would choke the life from him, he would bring his head back to Konoha as proof, and he would be free.

The flames of Sasuke’s hatred, so much like the Fire chakra he’d learned to conjure in his stomach, spread through him with a pleasing burning sensation, dissolving the ice and pain as his chest rose and fell. He stared, unseeing at the space between the floor and his bed as the images drifted across his mind. Itachi collapsing to his knees, bleeding and beaten. His look of surprise, of terror at finally being bested and realization of the consequences. Sasuke imagined the blade in his hands, as long and as smooth as the wooden swords he’d been carving for Cat over hours and hours. He imagined the turn of his body, the pull of his muscles as he put his full weight into the swing, as the sword stamped with the Uchiha crest severed Itachi’s head from his body and sent it spiraling to the dirt.

Suddenly it wasn’t Itachi’s head, it was Uncle Kosuke’s. His hands had silver gauntlets, and he looked down to see the headless body collapse forwards into a growing pool of blood. Sasuke looked into the results of his work and saw Itachi’s face. Now the cold was everywhere, spreading from his chest down his legs, across his arms, up his neck!

What equilibrium Sasuke had found was gone and he crawled forward on his hands and knees, teeth gritted even as his breath whistled through them over and over. His fingers felt as tense as bowstrings (Like the time he and Itachi had hunted the boar, ~~the time he and Itachi had hunted their Clan~~ ). He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted all of his hatred and fear and pain to flow from him, but the ice refused. It was locking him up, forcing it all inside as the Last Uchiha reached his bedframe and clawed his way to a kneeling position. He had to scream, he wanted to, needed it more than he’d ever needed to say anything in his life.

“Got any two’s?”

“Go Fish Naruto.”

Indistinct grumbling from the other side of the door reminded Sasuke that he couldn’t. Even if he died here, from whatever this was, some latent trick of Itachi’s, he couldn’t let them know. They were already too close, knew too much, Naruto especially. That made them vulnerable, meant Itachi could hear, could come back and-

“How’s the calligraphy, Sasuke?” he heard Sakura’s voice from outside, slightly distracted at the rustling of cardstock. “What’re you working on?”

Bizarrely, the question shoved his mind sideways, away from the cold, the dark spiraling path he’d been on. Away from the heat of his rage, now dulled to an ember as the terror that had filled him receded. It was so casual, so mildly curious, that he couldn’t help but respond.

“Cold,” he breathed, and it felt like his lungs emptied themselves entirely along with the word. “I’m working on the kanji for Cold.”

“Yeah, the temperature’s really dropped hasn’t it? Do you think your uncle will like the present we got him? Well, you and I got him, Naruto just signed the wrapping paper because he forgot the card.”

“Hey!” an indignant shout came from the hallway, clear even through the doorway and no doubt through several walls. “We might’ve been able to slip the scarf in there because of the wrapping paper, but Indra-san definitely would have noticed if we’d put a card in there too! I didn’t forget, I was being tactical about it.”

Sasuke dragged himself onto the bed as the cold receded still further, giving him back his hands and legs. Something about them, those two, was helping. He noticed that he was breathing through his nose again instead of solely through his mouth and that was likely the real cause. But the cold still hadn’t gone away. Now it was defensive, curled around his heart and settling there with a bone deep chill that outlined every one of his ribs in pain and tensed muscle.

“-it’s a perfectly fine, practical gift. Do you really think he’ll like it Sasuke?”

He thought of his uncle, of the words scrawled on a scrap of paper they usually used for grocery lists **. I’m coming back**. A lie, perhaps, or a promise they both knew he alone could not keep. Somehow, in the smallest of ways, it had been reassuring, for it meant that Indra Uchiha really did care, that he cared enough to not leave Sasuke alone again. Even if that did happen, (the cold expanded and contracted in the same breath) he knew Indra would fight his hardest before the end, even if it was useless, even if he had lost all of his limbs.

Sasuke had felt that same flicker of stubborn determination within his uncle, buried beneath silence, quiet words, and bandages. The rare moments when his eye blazed red and glared, the same way he glared, the same way their father glared. Indra would not die without a fight, perhaps even a fight to enter the Uchiha Scrolls in its fierceness, because he had promised to come back. Compared to that, a scarf was a small thing, stupid even. But Naruto had the idea, Sasuke had chosen the color, and Sakura had wrapped it, so that made the fabric bundle a promise of its own. **Stay warm,** he had written, as a command rather than a plea. But he knew what it really said. **Come back to us. Don’t leave me alone again.**

“Awww, Sakura, how do you keep _doing_ that?”

Cards slapped down onto a pile as he heard a small giggle from the hallway. “You ask for really obvious cards Naruto, and there’s only so many numbers and suits in the deck. So obviously, I just subtract the cards from my hand, and the cards from yours each time I ask a question, and make educated guesses based on the probability of the top-deck cards.”

“Uhhh, can you say that again, but, like, slower? I almost got that.”

The cold was almost gone and Sasuke idly noticed his fingers had twisted themselves into his formerly smooth bedspread. He let go to minor relief as his tension-filled muscles finally relaxed and he returned his attention to his breathing. It was a little deeper than normal, sure, but it didn’t hurt to breathe and it was almost back to normal. He realized he’d never answered Sakura’s question.

“Yeah, Sakura. I think he will like it. It was a good idea.”

There was a sudden silence from the hall before a chirped “Good!” drifted in and she returned to her explanation of card-counting. He listened in silence as she talked about the ideas behind casinos and card games, and how the latter would be the easiest to win, once she came of age. Now Naruto was excitedly dreaming of all the things they could do with casino money, like travel to the ruins of Uzushio, or visit Stone’s volcano ranges, or go on a fishing trip in the Land of Waves.

The cold and the pain in his chest, the raw terror had been replaced by a chill of a more recognizable kind as Sasuke realized he was covered in sweat, from his hairline to his chest and lower back, soaking his shirt as if he’d been fighting Kakashi for two hours straight. He rose into a half-sitting position and stripped off the shirt and flung it across the room in the general direction of his closet. Father had always told him a tidy room meant a tidy mind, but Sasuke was too tired to care. He flopped back on top of his covers as his eyelids became heavier and soon he drifted off to the sounds of his friends chatting through his door. He heard his name once or twice, but soon it was clear they weren’t really expecting a response, even if he’d heard enough to give it. Soon he was fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm leaving you on that cliffhanger from last chapter. There's also a cliffhanger here, so see if you can guess why before the chapter after this!
> 
> So Indra’s good memories are now mostly of Team 7’s early days beyond the time spent with Itachi and “that’s my boy”, neither of which are things that are recreational. This poses a problem for someone trying to be better than a line of failed/failing parents AND not replace Sasuke's dead parents, so Indra was struggling to figure out what to do. 
> 
> BTW: Fighting off a panic attack by sinking into toxic hatred is not a recommended coping strategy. One conversation with Indra won’t fix Sasuke, but by having other people around, Sasuke now has more to lose, hence the panic attack.


	29. Missing Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Nine-Tails realizes he has made a mistake.

Naruto absently rubbed his stomach as Sakura explained the rules of Blackjack as within him _the Nine-Tailed Fox growled in frustration. It paced back and forth in front of the golden bars and the accursed seal as its stomach rumbled._

_As a creature of chakra, it did not and never would eat like humans ate. It had no true need for sustenance, though it possessed a stomach and had devoured plenty of wicked mortals in the past. There had been that incident with Kinkaku and Ginkaku, but the Kyuubi refused to acknowledge those thieves. Perhaps it had been foolish. Its encounter with the older Uchiha, the one full of humility and concern and warnings for the biju, had made it overconfident. He had drawn more and more negative energy from the stones and roofs and earth of the Uchiha District to rebuild his Yang energy. He had glutted himself on the hatred, pain, and misery of his hated oppressors but especially the boy._

_He had grown accustomed to his nightly habits, of dreamwalking across the space between sleeping minds, of tasting the boy’s fears, his terror, sketched in ebony and tasting like the harshest sake. Delicious, but now, he saw, dangerous as well. For now the boy was asleep, and as his mind sank into itself, the nightmares rose to surround it with renewed force. And the Kyuubi was not there to devour them. His prison, his jailer, his stupid, idiot Uzumaki cage was awake and as long as that was the case, he was trapped here._

_The fox had become a dam, holding back the waters of the Uchiha boy’s suffering, all the wickedness his maddened brother had inflicted, which had tasted so wonderful and had made the Fox so much stronger. But now, the Fox could not reach him, and so the dam was gone. Months of nightmares, of horrors, of human frailty crashed down upon Sasuke Uchiha’s mind and despite himself, the Fox grimaced and threw himself at the cage bars. If the boy’s mind broke, if he was shattered, then the dreams would be gone, and the Fox would starve once more._

___________________________

When the screams began, both Naruto and Sakura dropped their cards. The Uzumaki practically hit the ceiling while Sakura scrambled to her feet and reached for the door. A hand reached out to grasp hers and Naruto and Sakura shared a look of silent understanding. They hadn’t been idiots. With his uncle gone, Sasuke had taken to pacing the house and had snapped at them with more than his normal blunt statements. When he’d staggered his way into his room and slammed the door, Naruto had found Sakura, they’d given Kakashi, who was obviously the cause, a glare worthy of the Third Hokage, and settled in to afternoon sentry duty.

They pretended to ignore the gasps, the heavy breathing, the thumps as Sasuke crawled or stumbled and both breathed a sigh of relief when the noise of sagging springs meant he’d at least reached the bed. They’d played Go Fish to at least pretend things were normal, that their friend wasn’t going through the same snappish, painful cycle they’d endured after that first visit with Indra. Naruto kept throwing worried looks at the door while Sakura had divided her attention between the cerebral and fulfilling effort of counting cards, while her Inner self continued to rant and fret over Sasuke’s health. If that worry expressed itself in a mixture of medical knowledge and promises of violent retribution upon the Uchiha, well, that was Inner’s problem, not Sakura’s.

Now that he was screaming, really, painfully screaming, heedless of volume, they threw caution to the winds and threw the door open as one. His hands were locked around his head, fingers curled into claws as his body attempted to force itself into wakefulness from pressure or pain alone. Sakura saw tiny rivers of blood begin to run down his cheeks, tangling into his hair and sending scattered drops to stain the sheets as he thrashed. Inner prodded to her, indicating the sweaty, discarded blue shirt and she brought it over at once. In any other circumstance, the girl might have payed more attention to Sasuke’s chest, or been grossed out by the sweaty shirt, but today those details were meaningless. She tried to force first his hands, then his arms away from his head, but they were locked in with desperate strength, even as he harmed himself. She wrapped the shirt around his head as best she could to collect the blood and exchanged a terrified glance with Naruto, who had locked down Sasuke’s thrashing legs in a bear hug with what seemed like ease. She’d been training, she had muscles too, now. “Switch!” she yelled at him over their friend’s screams. “Get his hands away before he claws his eyes out or something!”

Naruto nodded and she moved over to wrap her own arms around the legs even as he let go. Whatever mad strength had locked Sasuke’s arms around his head didn’t extend to his feet, because despite his wild kicks, she was able to hold him easily. Naruto’s strength, for better or for worse, was above even Sasuke’s and the one time he’d landed a punch on Kakashi, it had sent the jonin back several inches on the wooden floor. The blonde strained with first one arm, then both, bracing his foot on the corner of the bed, and succeeded in forcing one of Sasuke’s hands away from his head, which he promptly grabbed in another bear hug, drawing him closer and he winced as the screams came closer.

Suddenly Kakashi was there, headband pushed up, concern and worry written all over his face. They saw the jawline of his mask move, but Sasuke was too loud, the room too close and they shook their heads to indicate their deafness. Kakashi ripped his mask down and mouthed the words slowly as Sakura silently thanked the gods she’d paid attention during their lesson on lip-reading. “What’s happening to him?”

Inner and Outer Sakura exchanged dozens of hypotheses in seconds, relying on their experience with the prickly Uchiha and information gleaned from everything from _Psychology Today_ to _Shinobi Trauma Responses Volume 12_. “Panic attack” she mouthed, “No idea why”.

Kakashi nodded and he leaned over Sasuke’s face, wincing as well at the volume of his cries, which were still wordless, for all the terror and pain they communicated. With one gloved hand he peeled open one eye and appeared to pause with indecision until Naruto headbutted his shoulder. “Do something!” the blonde pleaded, worry and not a little terror of his own written all over his face. Whatever Kakashi had been worried about vanished and the man’s lips set into a determined line. Inner Sakura idly noted he had very long canines and a small beauty mark and filed that away for later as the jonin cupped Sasuke’s face with one hand and levered open an eye with the other. Neither of the children saw his Sharingan activate, but Sasuke’s screams redoubled.

If he’d been in pain and afraid before, Sasuke’s new screams went even further. They were the screams of an animal that was wounded and knew it was about to die, the screams any creature, human, beast, or chakra construct recognized instinctively. They were screams that struck at the core of the soul, that warned of horrible danger and to run, _run,_ RUN!

_The Kyuubi gnashed its teeth in frustration. It had fed on the wickedness of the Uchiha, and the memories of that wickedness in the boy and its resurgence was going to shatter his spirit in two and leave him a comatose vegetable, bereft of any dreams for him to harvest. The fox tried to convince itself. This was one of the last clansmen of its hated enemy, its destruction would leave one less pair of Sharingan to possibly control him. It would be a kinder fate than suffering through a life of hatred. There were other dreamers, other shinobi with wickedness in their hearts. It had smelled that Anbu, could smell him now, clear across the village, the Monkey. Steeped in wickedness, yes, he could feast on that one for a long time indeed. He could continue to rebuild his Yang chakra by inciting the Uzumaki. The death of his friend could break him, could perhaps even free the Kyuubi from its cage with the right coaxing._

_But._

_He was just a boy. The Uchiha held hatred, yes, but it was another’s poison that pumped through his soul. Left alone, the boy would have been kind, perhaps good, even if he’d been born an Uchiha. He had devoured the boy’s nightmares to strengthen himself, but also because it was his duty. The Old Man had charged him with devouring the wickedness of mortals burning away the rot before it spread, and he had done so in many ways, for many lifetimes. Before the villages. Before wood and eyes and golden chains and the word that before had only belonged to the Old Man. Before jinchuriki. Before this jinchuriki, the flesh who was blind, deaf, and nearly dumb to his presence, who had not even a realization of who was trapped inside his Uzumaki soul._

_The Kyuubi flung itself against the bars, once, twice, three times in fury and hatred. Hatred for his situation, hatred for the boys, but most of all, hatred for the inability to carry out its duty. His_ _duty. Kurama’s duty._

_If there truly is no other way…_

_He wasn’t doing this for the boy. He wasn’t doing this out of charity, or because he felt guilty at the pain his dreamwalking had caused. What did he care? He was doing this because it was his duty, and because that Uchiha was too tempting a morsel to lose. Not when he’d grown accustomed to feeding on those nightmares._

_So Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox, the Kyuubi, the Nine Burning Rages, the Cleansing Flames of the Kami, cast his consciousness up and out, beyond the boundaries of his cage and towards the soul of Naruto Uzumaki._

**_Listen up, you idiot, and listen hard._ **

Naruto froze and Sasuke’s arm nearly wrenched itself out of his grip before he clung tighter. Whatever Kakashi-sensei was trying, it wasn’t working and really just made things worse. But he could have sworn he’d just heard a voice. A voice in his head…

**_I’m only telling you this once. The Uchiha brat’s drowning in nightmares and if you want him to live, you have to let me eat them. The brat will live, but if this goes on, he’ll crack like a Buddhist Monk at a brothel._ **

Naruto shook his head wildly and glanced at Sakura and Kakashi, who were staring at Sasuke with single-minded intensity of fear and frustration. “Did you guys hear that voice?”

Sakura bared her teeth and if she had her hands free, she would have punched him, he was sure. “Now’s not the right time for jokes, Naruto.”

“I’m serious,” protested the blonde even as Sasuke’s scrabbling nails drew red lines down his chin. “Somebody’s talking in my head about Sasuke’s nightmares!”

Kakashi had gone very still, as if the howling boy underneath him suddenly didn’t exist. His voice was hard and his glare was only intensified by the red and black of his transplanted Sharingan. “What did the voice say?”

Naruto’s throat suddenly felt very dry. “Uh, he said he needed to eat Sasuke’s nightmares before he-“

- ** _cracked like a Buddhist monk at a brothel. Went totally nuts. Comatose. Permanent vegetative state. Drowned in Uchiha evil. Whichever._**

“Sasuke’s going to totally lose it!” said Naruto as his voice reached a higher, even more terrified pitch as he realized who, or rather, what, was somehow speaking to him. Kakashi drew a kunai from his leg holster with deliberate slowness and even though his eyes met Naruto’s the blonde knew he was looking somewhere else entirely.

“Can someone explain what the heck is going on?!” yelled Sakura, close to tears with frustration and fear.

**_The only way to save the boy is to knock this one out. Then I can dreamwalk across and devour the nightmares the way I have for the past six months. I save my food source and the Uchiha gets to keep his brain. Everybody wins._ **

“Uh, Kakashi-sensei, did you hear that?”

The jonin gave a single nod, but did not break eye contact with Naruto.

“You’ve gotta knock me out.” The boy’s jaw set in determination even as his hands still held Sasuke down.

**_You have ten seconds._ **

****

Kakashi raised his hand but stopped. Truly, openly harming Minato’s son, could he-

A fist crashed into Naruto’s jaw, fueled by fear, confusion, anger, and sixty-two pounds of pink-haired girl as the blonde dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Even before he had collapsed into Kakashi’s arms, Sasuke’s screaming lessened. It fell from the mortal terror of someone who was about to die, to the cries of a child in pain, then to broken sobs, then nothing. Sakura stumbled into Kakashi’s kneeling form and barely managed to avoid falling to the floor herself. He impulsively reached an arm out and held the girl close to his flak jacket as she cried and allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. “We’re ok,” he repeated and ignored the wetness in his own eyes, like he was chanting a prayer. “We’re ok, we’re ok, we’re ok.”

Behind them, Sasuke slept peacefully once more.

_Kurama tore a memory in half and gulped down the red sky, with the charcoal street of corpses_ _to follow. Delicious, necessary, but possibly yet another mistake. He’d spoken with his cage and with the Sharingan-thief. They knew he had awakened and that he could dreamwalk, an oversight the Eight-Signed Seal had not accounted for. It had never been meant to seal a Tailed Beast, but it had served its purpose. Now the mortals knew and could take steps to limit even this tiny freedom he’d discovered. Of course, to do so condemned the Uchiha boy to madness, as he’d just demonstrated, so perhaps he was safe for now. A dream of bloody vengeance tried to flee but he pounced upon it and worried it in his teeth until only the emotion remained, stripped of detail._

_Yes, he was safe. He had saved the boy and if he simply continued his feast, night after night, it would be something. Perhaps it would earn the Uzumaki’s trust._

_It was the smallest chink in his prison, barely even a glimmer of hope from within these dark and putrid sewers, but Kurama grinned with bloody and fear-stained teeth._

**_Perhaps one day, I will be free_ ** **_._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The switch from the impersonal ITS to HIS in the description of the Nine-Tails is very deliberate because it’s the first time in this timeline Kurama acts out of any kind of goodness, even if it’s mostly self-interest. Also, you thought I would give either Sasuke a break? HAHAHAHA. On the plus side, we get Kurama’s heart growing not three sizes, maybe half of one. It’s a start. Also, nom nom nom nightmares.
> 
> Kakashi has the brilliantly idiotic idea of trying to use his own Mangekyo to pull Sasuke to wakefulness, but that just shoves his brain deeper into the fear/panic response considering the last time he saw those eyes. It's not super clear in the narrative, but I just wanted to put it out there. 
> 
> These two interludes are shorter chapters compared to the monstrosities that are Operation Harmony, mostly because the latter involves fight scenes.


	30. Operation Harmony Pt 2: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures, Desperate Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Destruction of the Sound Village begins! Root secrets revealed!

They ran on two legs or crawled on four. They slithered on the tile or writhed through the air. Some of them had jaws with fanged mouths, some of them had suckers full of acid, some of them had jagged beaks. In form they were varied, but their purpose was clear. Each one of the thousands of creatures the size of dogs smelled of spices and each one hungered for the flesh and chakra of men.

Orochimaru emitted a peal of mad, cackling laughter as Indra spun away and tore back to the other Anbu, ignoring the three senbon that embedded themselves in his back, just above the shoulder blade. It didn’t matter, even if it limited his movement. What mattered was the tide of acidic white flesh that poured down towards the battling ninja, even as some of them turned to confront it. One of the horned, red-skinned twins had a deep gash from shoulder to him that bled fiercely despite his attempts to stymie it and he had the bad luck to be closest to the cells. They poured over him even as his claws flashed and shredded several to ribbons, even as his mouth spat fire, but the creatures did not care. He was vulnerable, and he was meat, so they devoured him even as their acid melted his claws and left holes in his skin. Red blood spurted out from the writing pile that had been Sakon or Ukon seconds before and the remaining combatants leaped away with cries of horror towards the center of the room.

Indra raised his voice. “To me! To me Leaf shinobi! I’ll form a barrier!” The masked figures followed his orders and Indra counted swiftly as one by one, they reached his position in the center of the room. All of them had acid burns of some kind, either on armor, clothes, or exposed skin, but every Anbu was accounted for. Indra’s eye spent bloody tears once more as the Amaterasu raced across the floor along his sightline, sometimes inches ahead of the growling, hissing, oozing creatures. He spun in a circle and the Anbu ducked down so they were soon completely encased in a wall of black flames once more, even as the temperature skyrocketed. He felt the blood roll off his cheek and drip down from his chin and wiped it away to make sure not a drop landed on his scarf. _Wearing it_ , he reflected, _may have been a Naruto-level stupid idea_.

Now they were out of immediate danger, he took in his squad. Cat had several long slashes on her arms and shoulders where she’d covered her head and neck. Beetle was wrapping bandages across a slash that had mirrored the one on the Sound ninja who’d been devoured. Pheasant was splashing isopropyl alcohol across an open sizzling wound on his forehead where one of the creatures had lodged before he’d carved it in half with an already useless kunai. The Leaf headband had saved him from the worst of it, but it was already half eaten away. The Yamanaka Root agent discarded it and slapped a patch on his face. Raven had backed away from the group as they slashed at the slimy, limbless thing on top of their mask, the hissing acid eating into the black and white mask slowly compared to what Indra had seen from the others. Their hood was gone, revealing short black hair and weathered skin. “You are not fit to touch this mask,” hissed Raven. “You are a vile, wretched thing that has lived far too long already!” With emphasis, Raven brought a vacuum-bladed kunai up and severed the creature from the mask even as their second kunai threw the creature into the black flames to be consumed. It wailed as it died, but Indra wouldn’t have cared if it had recited haikus, because a sweat-stained Shimura Danzō stared back at him with an expression somewhere between frustration and resignation.

The old man gave a slight shrug of his shoulders but said nothing more, so Indra bit back the curses he wanted to scream and turned his back on the man. All of them were alive and more or less whole, but the same could not be said for the Sound Ninja. At a gesture, the flames around them lessened just a little, enough to see through the inky black chakra and gauge their situation. Some of the surviving Sound Ninja had formed a tall, poisonously purple barrier around their lord, who was carving more of the white leech-beasts from the remaining twin with a disappointed expression. Indra noted that his Kusanagi remained whole as the acidic flesh dissolved around it. Had it been treated in some way, or was it simply another mystical property of the Grass’s treasured sword? It didn’t matter because Orochimaru began to speak, his voice carrying clearly over the chittering of his creations and the crackle of black flames. “Calm yourself, Sakon, this is survivable. Unfortunately,” and here his lip twisted into what was definitely a grimace, “the same cannot be said for Kimimaro.”

They all looked down at the bone-wielder, who’s left arm had grown into a massive bony shield that even now was retracting back into his ulna, as dissolved bone dripped into his inner organs alongside the acid of what must’ve been several dozen creatures. His chest was wide open, Indra could see his body pumping franticly, chakra system surging energy to his bone structures as he worked to limit the damage. “Lord Orochimaru,” croaked the teenager, his expression of faint worry, then beatific bliss, “you are safe.”

Orochimaru nodded and held Sakon up by the scruff of his neck. “Yes, Kimimaro, you have succeeded once again. I am safe.” With that, he drew the body-shifter up and slammed the boy into the Kaguya teenager on the ground. Both screamed as the former’s ability activated and first their skin, then their very cells fused and spread, bringing new flesh to open wounds, and fresh bone to reinforce it. It sounded extremely painful but Orochimaru tutted. “A less than optimal experiment, given the field conditions, but ah well, needs must. I must preserve dear Kimimaro if he is to be my new body.”

“Lord Orochimaru!” groaned the red-haired teenager closest to Indra’s party, “The Four Flames are meant to have four goddamn shinobi, not three. I can’t bear the weight much longer!” That must be Tayuya, the flute girl. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Danzo raise his singular eyebrow and Indra knew the man was just as reluctantly impressed as he was. The Four Flames barrier ninjutsu had been designed from the ground up for four shinobi and this girl was apparently carrying the weight of two corners on her own? “Lord, we must leave,” she begged.

“Oh, very well Tayuya. Stand close and stay prepared. Jirōbō, carry those two, I believe the merging has rendered them unconscious for the time being. Kidōmaru…”

Indra’s attention fades as he spins on his heel to see the Anbu already standing up, hands tight around weapons partially ruined by acid and ready to fight. For a moment, Indra’s heart swells as he thinks of his team, his Naruto, and that last desperate rush to Uzushio. They had been determined then too, they could still win. Past and future together. “We’re not going to let them get away; however they plan to do so,” he vowed. “Here’s the plan: I’m going to shrink our barrier until it’s as small and as precise as I can get it without anybody catching on fire. I can put it out, but that will take time and energy we do not have. We’re going to plow through these things, get to Orochimaru, and separate his head from his gods-damned neck. Anything gets through, kill it. We stop for nothing. Clear?”

They nodded and Indra gave a silent prayer of relief. Danzō at least had enough sense to defer to his command when under fire. Which was smart because if he had argued, Indra would have killed the man and damn the consequences. Tagging along on an Anbu mission as a sixty-seven-year-old man, no matter his skill, was bordering on suicidal. Arguing in an active combat situation was a close second.

Then the purple barrier fell as the Sound Ninja screamed in terror and they were all running, running as if the Death God itself were chasing them. Orochimaru was in the center, surrounded by Tayuya and Jirōbō, while Kidomaru’s six arms held something out in front of them that glowed with a sickly green light. Indra’s sharingan ached when he looked, even blocked as it was by the spider-mimic’s body and he felt the eye attempt to retreat to the normal visual spectrum, but he forced more chakra into his ocular pathways and his chakra-sight returned. He brought his hands together as his eye bled again, almost in apology for its reluctance, and Amaterasu’s flames shrunk to wrap around them. Soon the Konoha shinobi were covered in a seamless cocoon of black flames above and around them.

They ran forward, following the green light and their enemy as the white creatures fled from Orochimaru’s artefact and immolated themselves in the Amaterasu with a cacophony of _pop_ s. Not content to skulk around the Leaf shinobi, Orochimaru’s hungry abominations threw themselves at the flesh beyond the fire and died in the dozens, then, as they picked up speed, by the hundreds. Whether confident in their superior numbers or simply driven to frenzy by the smell of blood, there was no stopping for any of them. The Sound ninja raced through hidden tunnels, slid down staircases, and ran up vertical shafts as they sought to lose their pursuers, but the Anbu were relentless, fighting through the pain of their wounds with deep breaths and studied ignorance of biology.

“You surprised me Danzō,” taunted Orochimaru from ahead of them. “Of all the people, I would never have expected you to work with an Uchiha. After all, how many of those eyeballs did you want me to implant into Shin’s arm? Twelve? Twenty? There were quite a lot, to be sure. Are they still in cold storage or have you used them by now? Which one is in your head right now? Fugaku’s perhaps?”

Indra felt Cat’s hand reach out to grab his shoulder, but he made no move toward Danzō and he could feel the gazes of the Anbu behind him boring into his head. Now was not the time. He’d killed Danzō for that once already.

“I will work with whoever I must if it is to defend the beauty and peace of the Leaf Village, Orochimaru no Yashagoro. Whatever task, whatever needs, they have always been for the Leaf!”

Even with the black flames and writhing beasts between them, they saw Orochimaru flinch and turn his head to glare at the leader of Root. “How could you possibly-“

“You have disappointed me, Orochimaru no Yashagoro,” said Danzō with finality and he did indeed sound disappointed. “So I wash my hands of you at long last. You were only ever interested in yourself, and I should have seen it sooner.”

“Don’t pretend you were any different!” hissed Orochimaru and bared his fangs, which were dripping poison onto the ground even as they ran. “You were the one who encouraged my experiments on enemy shinobi, encouraged me to continue them when the war was over, brought me subjects you said nobody would miss! Don’t hide behind the village’s fig leaf and pretend to be some noble shinobi serving a _kind village_.”

Danzō’s eye twitched and he sped up, shouldering Indra aside and nearly leaping into the Amaterasu in his fury. “And you never complained! At every step, you were right there with me, with your scalpels and chakra maps and theories. At every step, you kept pushing, because you wanted to see what would happen, how you could make yourself _perfect_. Your hands were working on those children right there, next to mine!”

The hallways were sloping up, growing more populated, and Indra saw several shinobi in Anbu black or Sound purple flatten themselves into neighboring tunnels as the tide of beasts and black fire rushed past. One unlucky Sound chunin collided with the bubble of Amaterasu and screamed as he fell to the floor, and then the beasts were upon him and the ninja were gone. Indra and the rest of the Anbu, as well as the Sound Ninja, remained spellbound as their feet carried them on.

Orochimaru let out something that was close to a laugh and close to a sob, and Indra had never imagined the Sannin could make such a noise, had never imagined that even in the face of his death Orochimaru would be anything other than perfectly composed in his terror and dread. Now he looked as if he were willing to risk Amaterasu’s flames just to wrap his fingers around Danzō’s throat. “I ASKED YOU!” he shouted, and Indra realized the snake had also never raised his voice, in either of his lives. “I asked you to make it an order, that my work was sanctioned officially by Konoha, that I would be protected. And what happened when Hiruzen stormed into my lab, which was so useful for you to dispose of nosy Anbu?” His golden eyes flashed as Danzō looked away. “You. Weren’t. There. Why weren’t you there?”

“I could not,” said the leader of Root, struggling to regain some of his calm. “It was I who changed the parameters of that mission to capture or kill instead of simple execution. It was I who placed the unbalanced Hatake along your escape route to give you an easy path to the border. Even now, it was I who allowed you to survive this long, in your little nest of vipers.” He let out a short bark of satisfaction at Orochimaru’s narrowed eyes. “Did you think your hidden village would survive this long while you collected wayward bloodlines, hunted ancient weapons, and took in missing ninja at every opportunity? No, I allowed you to play your little game with the Land of Rice Paddies, allowed you to pretend that you truly deserved the title of Kage, even in a backwater nation. I had hoped you would make something of yourself, but this…” Danzō flung out his arm at the madness that separated the two ninja. “Whatever madness inspired you to create such monstrosities is too far by half Yashagoro! Even now, they threaten the Land of Fire and if you were stupid enough to allow these things the ability to breed, they will be a plague upon this earth, just like you!” He spat in the direction of Orochimaru’s feet and neither cared that fire dissolved the phlegm in a wisp of steam. “That will be your legacy, the change you brought to this world in search of immortality. A collection of tortured, freakish ninja and a horde of maggots from the stars.”

Suddenly Orochimaru’s blade was in his hand and it shot forward, heedless of the Celestial Maggots and their acid, heedless of the black flames, and Indra barely had time to shout “Drop” before it struck home. Danzo staggered back as blood flowed from his shoulder, staining white robes red and making black robes glisten. Indra felt a small cut open on his cheek as the blade passed over him and skidded to his knees to avoid further damage. There was a wet noise and a quiet “huh” of lost air as he looked back to see the point of the sword neatly separate Beetle’s head from his shoulders.

The first fell forward, following its owner’s momentum, while the heavy body rocked back at the force of the blow. Cat’s hands snatched the masked head out of the air before it could hit the ground and she stared dumbly at her prize. Pheasant noticed the black flames already starting to spread over Beetle’s body and heaved the corpse out of Indra’s barrier. At once, the Celestial Maggots swarmed it, chittering and oozing in excitement at the bounty of their hunt and the creatures even drew away from the rest of the groups as the feeding frenzy grasped them once more. Indra could feel his chakra lowering, could feel the strain building behind his singular eye and prayed he wasn’t going to discover a new additional level of blindness that could affect even the Eternal Mangekyo. _Not now,_ he prayed. _Amaterasu, preserve us._

“You.” Cat was rising, cradling the masked head of her friend in one arm, and a glimmering sword in the other. Though her mask suggested a smirk at a private joke, the eyes behind it were positively seething with fury as she glared at Orochimaru. “I’ll kill you for that.”

As if to punctuate the statement, the very stone around them shook as something truly massive exploded above them and for the first time Orochimaru looked uncertain as yet another variable entered the equation of battle.

“Well, you already summoned your reinforcements,” said Indra as he drew his sword and Danzō brandished a wind-wrapped kunai. “So we thought it would only be fair to summon ours.”

Their chase emerged from beneath the earth in an explosion of stone, black flame, and writhing Celestial Maggots. As Danzō and Cat launched themselves Orochimaru, the fury written across their features mirrored in the snake’s own. He ducked a swing of Danzō’s blade and launched a riposte and a rearing snake from his sleeve at the same time. Cat blocked the sword and decapitated the snake and she passed over Orochimaru’s shoulder and into the wider battle around them.

It was absolute chaos and any pretense of cordoned lines, capture teams, and termination squads had completely broken down. Sound jonin exchanged jutsu with Leaf Anbu, a Hyuga chunin urged fleeing civilians away from the combat, and fountains of writhing Celestial Maggots chewed their way from the earth or rained from exit holes within false trees as a few Sound ninja threw green-grey dust that caused the beasts to turn and writhe in the other direction. Indra flipped through the signs and even spat a few Majestic Dragon Flames into the sky for good measure, but the Sound Four managed to avoid every one.

Pheasant charged at Kidomaru, targeting not the man’s many arms, but the weathered carving in his hands, only for two hardened hands to catch his descending blade and snap it clean in two. They spiraled downward, neither paying attention to the pull of gravity even as Orochimaru curved his body around a dying Anbu and slithered towards the tree branches. Danzō and Cat were in hot pursuit and Indra charged to join them, only for a massive giant and a thin red-haired woman to block his path.

“Lord Orochimaru’s orders,” breathed Tayuya and licked her lips as Jirōbō tied the comatose Kimimaro to his back behind her. “If he didn’t attend to it, we were to take your fuckin’ eye.” The black sigils of the curse marks spiraled out across their bodies and merged as their skin darkened into the leathery substance Indra had known from both his own curse and long association with Jugo. “Pissin’ on your corpse was strictly optional, obviously.”

“Language, Tayuya,” chided the red-skinned giant beside her as he cracked his knuckles. “You know such behavior is unbecoming of a shinobi.”

In response, the Uchiha unclipped his cloak and tossed it high with a flourish and the small smirk that was his version of a grin. If they wanted to intimidate him, well, two could play at that game. “So is joining an international criminal and kidnapping test subjects. When you weren’t under the knife yourself. And yet, here you are.” He spread his sword and stump out in a welcoming gesture, still untouched by the battle raging around them. “If you want to surrender, I will gladly accept it now.”

“As if. Jirōbō?”

The big man nodded and dived into the earth, which prompted several stone spikes to immediately launch themselves up from the area Indra had been standing a moment before. He rose upward and watched as Tayuya brought her flute to her lips, only to bring it up in a block as his lightning-enhanced sword aimed for her stomach. The blade met the metal shell of the flute with a loud, discordant note and Indra allowed himself to be impressed as the world around them wavered into something pinkish and indistinct. Then the note died away and the image died with it as the girl shoved his sword away, careful to keep the flute between her hand and the sword at all times. They landed on the side of a tree trunk and exchanged several more blows as ninja around them stumbled or paused at the sound of the notes, which their opponents capitalized on without fail.

“Curious technique,” commented Indra as bodies began to fall from above them and he tied a roll of razor wire to a shuriken with his teeth. “Auditory genjutsu pose an interesting challenge to the visually-focused Sharingan, but do you really think you can face me?”

Tayuya tucked her hair behind both one of her short horns and her ear and grinned in a way that reminded him vividly of a little blonde boy just before he pulled a particularly wicked prank. “This flute has been in my family for three generations,” she said proudly as she held it out to catch a rain of blood from a dying Sound chunin. “I grew up hearing stories of how it had conquered every visual jutsu it encountered.” Her hands flipped through several signs as she brought the flute to her lips and the blood flowed against gravity and through the instrument in a haunting melody.

“Summoning Jutsu: Three Raging Demons!”

Indra twisted sideways as a massive iron club smashed clean through the tree they’d been standing on and three hulking forms converged on him. “Of course,” Tayuya had to add, “these demons help too.”

Ah, but Indra missed the Susanno’o at times like these. He feinted forwards as the girl resumed her flute playing and the demons moved in perfect synchronization to respond to his attacks. The one wrapped head to toe in bandages would impose itself whenever he sought to break away, keeping him within the girl’s range while the one with the club and the other with clawed gauntlets swung away at him in silent fury. He crouched low as the massive club passed over his head and sprang over its head has his sword sang the eternal chirping song of the Chidori. The demon with the gauntlets made to block with one and impale him with the other, but Indra didn’t bother to escape the blow as his eye burned once more. The ogre moaned through stitched lips as Indra’s sword carved clean through its wrist and shattered the wooden claw as well as its hand. The fire of Amaterasu that Indra had summoned instead of a purple ribcage provided no cushioning and he was catapulted across the clearing into and under the roots of a spacious tree.

Now the demon had ripped the stitches from its lips entirely and was howling as the purifying flames spread across its body and Tayuya watched in shock. “You-you took that blow, just so you could set my Doki on fire?”

Indra shook dirt and some unfortunate centipedes from his hair and threw his sword out of the hole for more climbing room. “Consider it a premature apology for when I break your nose.”

Of course, with Orochimaru out of his immediate vision and battle all around, he was slipping back into the easy banter his Naruto had always encouraged to keep their spirits up as they fought the Otsutsuki or the corpse-creatures that protected them. There was also a certain amount of masochism peeking through as the uniforms, sights, and smells of the Sound Village brought back two and a half years’ worth of memories. If a little pain was all that was needed to take them out faster, well, Sarada thought he’d deserved it.

With only the barest tremor of warning, massive stone arms erupted from the ground and pulled him back down as a vast stone golem emerged to hold him in place for the iron club that filled his vision. On instinct, desperately, Indra reached for the vast warrior, his purple-armored protector and found nothing. His Rinnegan was gone and with it, the two open ocular pathways through which the guardian could manifest. He’d been foolish, overconfident in his knowledge and his power, but no amount of black flame could halt or even deter something moving that fast. Even as the second demon was consumed, it followed the command of its mistress and Indra felt ribs give way as he was driven back into the stone of Jirōbō’s Earth Golem.

His last thought before he blacked out was from the intelligence report Danzō had given him a month before. _Probably shattered every rib he had. Every rib he had. Every rib._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out just because you CAN create abominations out of the flesh of a tortured God, doesn’t mean you should. Especially when you can’t control them.
> 
> Yashagoro is the original name of the Toad Sage’s snake student in the Japanese myth, so I adopted it for Orochimaru. Even if it might not make sense as a family name in Japanese, I like the idea of Danzō hiding this little nugget away for years and years, just to get this reaction. Also, he inadvertently names the creatures the Celestial Maggots. Source: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/bcoppola/2018/10/03/jiraiya-goketsu-monogatari-8-pp-2-3-ca-1850/
> 
> Orochimaru’s motivations are always so difficult to pin down, because he lies to just about everyone but his speeches to Hiruzen in Pt 1 and to the Hokage in Pt 2 show he does have broad goals beyond eternal life and all jutsu. He wants to create lasting change in the ninja world and believes it is only worthy change if he is the one who causes it. Also, Beetle was perhaps the most obvious choice for a red shirt, but won't be the only one. All the others have connections or plot significance and someone needs to die to Orochimaru. Alas, Beetle, you’ll be buying Anbu drinks in the Pure Lands.
> 
> Indra gets to do the Yakuza jacket throw, because I've spent enough time shitting on the Uchiha, they deserve some cool moments for sure. Don't worry though, this is still very much a story about Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura as well. It may make this into a doorstopper of a fic, but nobody's getting shortchanged here. If you think they are, let me know!  
> i can't help it, I always read that last line in Robert Baratheon's voice.


	31. Operation Harmony Pt 3: A Meeting of the Minds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke meets his Clan's immortal enemy and Indra finally does something Cool.

Sasuke was pretty sure he was asleep. Pretty sure because only minutes before he’d been standing in the streets of the Uchiha District, forced to watch as his brother killed every member of his clan, then his Father and Mother. Their Father and Mother. And now he wasn’t.

Now he was standing on the surface of a vast plain of water and watching as black spiked chains rose from the depths to disappear into the shadows above his head. “Weird,” he said to no one.

**Not by a long shot.**

Sasuke froze as he heard something lick its lips behind him and make several exaggerated smacking noises. **Compared to the wonderful meal you just provided me, your shared consciousness is positively placid.**

In the back of Sasuke’s head, the primal Uchiha instinct to fight warred with the primal human instinct to survive as he refused to look behind him. This had to be another nightmare. In nightmares you were always unable to look at the thing coming up behind you. Even if it ate him, he would at least wake up from a nightmare that wasn’t Itachi-focused. Even a hideous trauma will become normalized if one dreams it every night for a year. Except he hadn’t.

Sasuke stared down at the water and the chains as something clicked in his brain, something he’d said to Naruto months and months ago. Since that rain-soaked fight in Naruto’s apartment, they had fallen asleep under the same roof, mostly. And every night since then, the nightmares had been gone.

Except he’d had one just now.

 **Ahh, the vaunted Uchiha genius at work finally figured it out.** There was a dark chuckle that was less mirth than derision mixed with loathing. **Yes, you’ve given me such wonderful nightmares to feast on. Giving me strength. Giving me _power_. **

Ripples spread on the lake as they passed under Sasuke’s feet and he felt hot breath on the back of his neck. Across his entire back really. **For that alone, I’ll let you live. And in turn, you will help me live.**

If the stories his mother and his grandmother and the Clan Scrolls had told contained one common theme it was this: Absolutely never, ever make deals with demons, spirits, or oni of any shape. “Y-You’re sealed,” he heard himself say. “You were sealed inside Naruto by the Fourth Hokage-“

**Do not speak that name.**

“By the Fourth Hokage,” continued Sasuke as he felt something snap violently behind him and made his hair ripple with the force. “You can’t get free, you can’t live anywhere, except inside Naruto. And Naruto’s a good person so he’s never going to let you out no matter what!”

 **No matter what?** Crooned the Nine-Tailed fox in a voice dripping with amusement and the knowledge of secrets. **Why, as it so happens, a very familiar brazen Uchiha missing an arm and an eye told me a great many things that might just convince the Uzumaki to open the door all on his own. Such wonderful secrets he entrusted to the wicked Nine-Tailed Fox, but not to you. Where should I start, foolish little brat?**

_Foolish little brother, you’re not even worth killing._

Sasuke screwed up his eyes and balled his fists. Itachi didn’t get to scare him now. Not when the Nine-Tailed Fox was somehow inside his head, outside of Naruto.

 **Ahh, but I still am, and it’s only thanks to your curious little connections that I was ever able to even feast on your fears in the first place. The bonds of destiny,** it mused. **Uchiha and Senju. Uzumaki and Uchiha. Haruno and Uzumaki and Uchiha, all twisted and torn. At least from here I’ll have a front row seat.**

It was teasing him, goading him. It wanted him to turn around, to attack it, to make a mistake. Perhaps there was some invisible rule that protected him now, something the fox didn’t want him to know, but couldn’t break himself. But the Fox wanted something from him, had admitted it. _In turn you will help me live._

“Alright then” called Sasuke, and he was proud his voice only shook a little. “So if you eat my dreams about Itachi, that’s it? You’re not eating my soul?” A displeased rumble from behind him shook the water again. **Tempting, admittedly, but the Old Man wouldn’t approve. He always had a soft spot for children, same with Matatabi and Chomei. No, the seal that binds me to Naruto prevents any other from passing beyond my infernal cage. Unless, of course, you walk in on your own.**

Sensing the fox was leading him away towards irrelevancies, Sasuke kept pushing. “You wanted me to help you live, what does that mean?”

**It is a simple deal, as I have said. I devour your dreams and in return, you will convince the specks that call themselves shinobi to let me dreamwalk as I please. Because of your sloth and my hunger for sustenance, we have tipped our hand. If I am not there to devour your dreams, they will come crashing down upon you all at once and shatter your soul beyond repair.**

Sasuke blinked and forced his body to calmly sit down on the water as he digested this. The Fox sounded almost, regretful. It was likely a trick, no, almost certainly a trick. The Nine-Tailed Fox was a beast of calamitous and indiscriminate Wrath that humans had harnessed without incident for years save one. And that incident had cost the lives of dozens of shinobi and the Fourth Hokage. It was a creature of hatred and malice; he could feel it behind him. Anything else was impossible.

 **This is purely out of self-interest,** it said and Sasuke cocked his head as he listened. **I shall drink in your suffering to restore my balance and you shall convince the mortals to let me do so. Even if it is only to save your own wretched Uchiha hide.**

It was trying to convince itself as much as it was trying to convince him. Sasuke felt the corners of his lips twitch and he slapped his hands over his mouth before the Fox could even sense the expression on his face.

 **Besides,** said the Fox, **at this moment you will be a convenient messenger from the biju to the Uchiha who calls himself your uncle. Tell him that Six of the Nine are ready. Tell him we will not fail the Old Man, just as he will not fail the Old Man, or we will devour him. Tell him that we will fight, when the day comes, at the End of All Things, when the Gate yawns wide** **.**

He felt a vast claw scrape down his shirt before it lowered and a massive paw shoved him into the water. He began to sink, even as he clawed in the direction of the surface and the slitted red eyes that glowed there, so much like his own. There were so many other questions he wanted to ask, so many things the Fox had said. He didn’t even know how to find Indra.

**Follow the chains, idiot boy. Tell him our message, then help me live.**

**That is our bargain** **.**

Before he sank out of sight, Sasuke thought he could see the gleaming fangs of a smile.

___________________________

Indra looked out over the lake and forests of his soul and knew with a bone-deep certainty, that he was going to hate this place before all was said and done. Of course, given the number of broken bones he probably had, bone-deep certainty didn’t go quite as deep as it normally did, so natch. In his first life, when he’d been an international terrorist, a commander, a hero, and a shitty father, he’d visited the depths of his soul perhaps six times. Most of those had been Naruto’s fault. It hadn’t even been a year and he knew he would break that record before December.

He looked around as he heard muffled screaming, then down as bubbles began to rise from between his legs, so he scooched back back just in time for Sasuke Uchiha to fly headfirst out of the lake of their linked souls, screaming at the top of his lungs. He flipped several times as he tumbled through the air, arms and legs scrabbling for purchase until he landed flat on his back with a painful-sounding SMACK. Indra winced, because that sounded like it hurt and unfurled into a standing position to offer thee younger version himself a hand up. “So I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting you to show up Sasuke. Considering I was knocked out, I thought Old Man Hagoromo was going to be here with some Sage wisdom, maybe a new eyeball again.”

Sasuke took his uncle’s hand and allowed himself to be hauled into a standing position as he picked the only concrete fragment out of the man’s gibbering. “I’m in your head.”

“Yes.”

“So, you can get into mine?”

Indra looked slightly guilty and Sasuke could tell because he made the same Uchiha expression. “Only if it’s an emergency.”

The smaller Uchiha frowned and crossed his arms. “You mean like if there’s a Nine-Tailed Fox eating my dreams? Yeah. Because that happened, and I’m blaming you.”

To his satisfaction, Indra staggered backwards like Sasuke had just shot him with another arrow. “How’d you find ou-“ The man didn’t even finish the question before he answered it himself with a grim look. “ **Him**. Right?”

Sasuke nodded.

“You fell asleep during the day, while Naruto was still awake?”

Another nod as Indra began pacing back and forth across the water, hand cradling his chin in deep thought. Mutterings spilled from his lips about _Ashura’s link_ and _bonded disturbances_ and _damned Uzumaki seals_ and Sasuke tried to make sense of them, but he was drowning in words and information and secrets and “AHHHGH!”

The boy buried his head in his hands, mirroring his position in the waking world. “THIS SUCKS! I get a new friend, but he’s got a fox spirit that’s eating my dreams. I get another Uchiha, but he’s got all these secrets and now is sharing my head! I find out my mom was an awesome jonin, but she used to date Naruto’s mom! What next! Huh?”

Indra looked blank so Sasuke grabbed his cloak and pulled the man down to his level. “I asked you, in the hospital, I asked you if you had any more secrets you wanted to spill and you said no! Did you know the fox was in my head?”

_Okay Indra, moment of truth. Time for some Good Parenting._

He dug deep and came up with nothing. The books hadn’t covered malicious chakra constructs with a hatred for Uchiha. (The well-thumbed chapter on managing divorce didn’t count) So he fell back on what had become _The Itachi Principle_ : Think of what Itachi would do, then do the exact opposite.

“Not then. The first night I slept in the Uchiha District, I was messing around in my head-“

“Like now?”

“Yes,” lied Indra. Back then he had more guilt and more ribs. “Then I followed my sins down and ended up at your head, where I saw the Nine-Tailed Fox eating your nightmares.”

“Why would your sins lead you to my head?”

A very, very good question. And he’d promised not to lie. _Itachi Principle._

“Shared trauma, mystical chakra, some guesswork that would take a licensed therapist to confirm, or a Yamanaka with a stiff drink. “

Sasuke was wrong-footed momentarily so as his grip eased, Indra sank back into the lotus position in front of his younger self and continued the story. “Seeing a giant fox inside your head, I panicked a little and invited myself in to confront the biju. We fought, it threatened your soul, I threatened it with eternal prison and listening to Naruto sing the Ramen Song for the rest of his days. You know.”

Sasuke shivered. A horrible punishment indeed, no wonder the Fox hadn’t eaten him earlier.

“So perhaps I was a fool for not telling you, but I was afraid that if you knew, you would try to fight him all on your own and then he certainly would have eaten you, Ramen Song or not.”

“You fought him though.”

“I have an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and knowledge of the Nine Biju very few know. We came to an understanding.”

“I think we did too.”

Now Indra was the one frowning. “Elaborate.”

So Sasuke told him about falling asleep, about the horror and pain as the nightmares that had been absent so long came roaring back and how the Fox had been there, and they had just…vanished. Right down the fanged gullet. Then he relayed the creature’s taunts, its offered bargain, and its message to Indra last of all. He had expected Indra to be angry, disappointed, or worried, but instead, the man’s face broke out into a small smile and a small golden sun began to peek across the horizon of his mind.

“I had only dared to hope…” he trailed off as he rose into a standing position and Sasuke scrambled to follow him as he strode towards the sun, which brightened their surroundings with every step he took. “Six of the Nine,” he said, tasting the words as they passed his lips. “Now that is worth a few ribs. Sasuke, you have brought us joyous news today!”

He laughed suddenly and hoisted Sasuke above his head to deposit the boy on his shoulders, even though he should have been too old, or too heavy for such things. “Six of the Nine, Sasuke, Six of the Nine biju have agreed to fight with us puny mortals! What a sight that will be to behold!”

He swung around in something that might’ve been a dance and Sasuke found himself grinning, clinging tighter to his uncle’s forehead as his center of gravity flew this way and that. Indra was almost singing.

_Amaterasu Okami, divine goddess and mother to us all,_

_You have protected us from harm and given us the wisdom to succeed today._

_Beautiful goddess who cannot fail, bring light to our blinded eyes, so that we may see your glory once more._

_Let your people grow old and know peace._

The older and the younger Uchiha stood there as the sun of Indra’s soul, its hope and its love and everything that had spurred him on, through time and pain and loss, rose again.

The Moon could only ever reflect the light of the Sun. But now, they shared the same sky.

______________________

Far away, in the grip of a massive stone golem, surrounded by battle and death, Indra Uchiha opened his eye and smiled a bloody, crooked smile as he felt the rain on his face wash away the blood. He felt Jirōbō’s power, leeching the chakra from him, drawing it endlessly into itself, seeking to fill a void that could never be sated. The barest genetic remnant of one Path of the Rinnegan’s potential. He almost pitied the teenager’s endless hunger. Indra spat out a false tooth as the howling mass of black flame and iron in front of him collapsed to the ground to reveal the red-haired teenager and final wrapped form of her summoned demon.

“You know,” he said almost conversationally, “this might be a minor setback for me. Well done.”

His hand sparked with Lightning chakra and the clouds roared in response as something vast emerged from within the thunderclouds to peer down at the battlefield. Some of the more religious Sound ninja fled, and a few dropped to their knees at what could only be Divine Judgement for their many sins under Orochimaru’s rule.

“If anybody in Anbu has the brains they were born with,” he shouted, ignoring the way something sharp jabbed inside of him, “you should hit the deck!”

He heard the strains of flute music and the final demon split open, pale mouths racing to devour his soul with “Revolt of the Demon World”, but it was futile. Though he’d once called it Indra’s Arrow, he returned to its first title as lightning descended upon the battlefield in one-one thousandth of a second. “Kirin.”

The world went white with sound and fury.

____________________________________

Despite his many, many attempts, Indra had never been able to mold Kirin into a jutsu with even a shred of his ex-wife’s finesse. While she could find and separate a blood clot in the veins of an old man without breaking the skin, he could put a hole through two men and the wall behind them. In a similar manner, a ninja with his ex-wife’s talent at controlling chakra, or even his husband’s skill with Nature Energy could have accomplished his goal. They could have split the raw untamed lightning further and further, dividing it into dozens or hundreds of falling spears of energy across a battlefield. Spears to kill, spears to shock, or spears to revitalize a dying comrade. The potential, Sakura had liked to say as they stared out over another smoking wasteland, was endless.

But Indra was both a dramatic bastard and, compared to them, a moron on the subject of Nature Energy. So he shaped the lightning into a dragon and simply terraformed hundred yards of Sound-owned forest into a new crater. As it turned out, the combatants were incredibly lucky, because Jirōbō was even more incredibly stupid than Indra. As the raw energy hit the top of his stone golem and vaporized it in a flash of raw chakra and heat, his endless hunger surged forth to meet it. All his life, Jirōbō had hungered for more, for more food, for more power, for more chakra and here at last, he began to feel full. Fully half of the energy that had sundered the Uchiha Clan’s ancient fortress or carved through Naruto’s Biju Chakra Mode was absorbed or diverted by the teenager’s genetic hunger and the cursed seal that fed it. Even as the lightning reached the center of his golem and began to boil the moisture inside his body, Jirōbō had an instant of satisfaction as the hunger within was finally sated. Then he was on fire and everything hurt.

Indra stood near the center of the blast radius, mostly unharmed as stray charges crawled across his upraised hand and curled around his shoulders in twisting energy. He idly formed the charges into miniature dragons and channeled them down to his hand and through the air to his sword, lying abandoned just outside the furrow in the earth he had been in a few minutes ago. Positive and negative charges flared as the seal Karin had carved on his thirtieth birthday reacted and the hilt flew swiftly into the palm of his hand. He blinked a few times to clear the remaining spots from his vision and whistled in surprise as he surveyed the area. Much less devastation than normal and he saw a few shinobi of varying allegiances pick themselves up shakily from the edges of the blast wave. “Alright, I’ll admit it Jirōbō, that was also impressive. A shame you’re still able to feel though.” He was about to bring his sword down on the wailing mass of burns that had been a Sound shinobi when surprisingly small arms wrapped around his chest and he was thrown backwards into a textbook suplex. His sword was wrenched out of his hand even as he tucked his head and rolled to avoid a crushed skull or a broken neck.

(Ninja wrestling as Sakura’s twenty-ninth birthday present had been surprisingly educational and unsurprisingly painful.) His minor success was followed by a kick that hammered into his side and sent him rolling away from Jirōbō. He rolled to his feet and noticed what remained of his cape was no longer on fire. His hand went to his neck and he breathed a sigh of relief. His scarf may have been covered in dirt and, if he was unlucky, a little blood, but it was still in one piece. He sent a crooked grin in the direction of Tayuya, whose diminutive form had already receded to that of a normal human, as she breathed a thin mist of water across her comrade and doused the fire. The fury in her expression reminded Indra of his Naruto and he snapped his fingers as the realization dawned on him. “I can’t believe I never noticed,” he said brightly, then winced as the speech pained him. Yep, broken jaw. Joy. “You’re another Uzumaki, and Orochimaru never noticed! You know, for a day I thought was going to be entirely horrible fights, unpleasant surprises and snakes, it’s really been quite nice.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” hissed the girl, but her expression had shifted from pure hate into a warier, guarded expression as she clung to her flute. Indra attempted his best charming smile, the one that according to Sakura, Naruto, and Karin had a chance on any sufficiently interested idiot. If two of the Uzumaki had fallen for it at one point or another, then perhaps…

Tayuya was looking at him like he’d gone mad. Ow, ow, ow, broken jaw. He let the smile drop away. “If it means anything to you and that ancestral flute of yours, I’ve got a friend in the Leaf Village who’d love to meet you, and not in the Torture and Interrogation kind of way. You know, short, feisty temper, long life, can take a real beating, massive chakra reserves. Uzumaki through and through, Anbu’s honor.”

A hooded Anbu dropped down beside him and removed its Mouse mask to reveal Anko Mishitari and her cheery grin as she slapped his stump with what must have been admiration. “Now, that was one hell of a jutsu, where’d you learn that?”

“The Sound Village.”

“Alright fine, don’t tell me. So is this that girl you wanted us to capture? Red hair, short, angry?”

Indra shook his head and jerked his thumb at the teenager who was attempting to haul the combined weight of Jirōbō, Sakon, and Kimimaro onto her shoulders. “Nope, that’s Uzumaki number two. Never even realized she fit the profile until we were fighting, so the Gods are finally giving us a break.”

Anko pursed her lips and examined the struggling teenager as she flipped a kunai end over end. “Yeah, I can see it. Nice catch.”

“Fuck off and die!” spat Tayuya but Anko only waved.

“Not until your boss does. You know, you’d really stand a better chance if you just ran for it.”

A stream of curses across four languages and what Indra recognized as scattered words of Uzushio’s ancient tongue spilled from her lips and he silently hoped the Gods’ generosity would extend to those, because that third one had sounded _nasty_. “So, Mouse, where do we stand?”

Anko pulled a small scroll from within her robe and unrolled it as they kept the Sound ninja in their vision. “Northern Hideout’s secure, same as the East. West was a close one and I’m willing to bet we missed a few there. Last message had Stone ninja were inbound, along with the Tuschikage, so I marked that as Yellow until we hear more. If we hear more.”

“I have every faith that my operatives were able to extract themselves successfully,” remarked Danzō as he limped towards them from the edge of the larger clearing Indra had created. “It is not the first time we have acquired high-value targets under the Tuschikage’s nose, after all.”

“For Anbu, or for Root?” asked Indra, while Anko started producing bandages, vials, and surgical gauze from her robe. “Sir, you’re bleeding!” This was either stating the obvious or missing the point entirely, as Danzō was covered head to toe in blood and Indra had no idea how much of it was his own. The leader of the Anbu looked at him impassively and Indra wobbled on his feet as multiple broken ribs and a shattered jaw threatened his stubborn hold on the conscious world. But he wasn’t going to allow himself to collapse an instant before Danzō, and certainly not before he held Orochimaru’s head in his hands. “The snake?” he asked, as his right leg began to jitter from too many chakra-assisted jumps. Or perhaps it was the poison on the three senbon needles that were still stuck in his back. He mentioned this to Anko who peered around and actually licked the area in question.

“Yep, poisioned for sure. Good news is, only one of ‘em’s still in you, but bad news, flying into a tree didn’t do you any favors, it’s stuck in there real good.”

“How far?” said Indra as his eye scanned the treeline and he willed himself not to collapse. _Think about Sasuke. And Naruto, and Sakura and Kakashi and Inoichi and Cat. You are not going to fall over until Orochimaru has the common decency to die_.

Anko continued. “Reeeeally deep, like, all the way in there. If you want my professional medical opinion, and my experience with my old Master, I’d say leave it in.”

“Well, isn’t this a wonderful surprise,” said a voice from the trees. “All my favorite people here in one place for me to kill save Sarutobi-sensei and most of them are half-dead already.” Sibilant words, undercut with cold fury, and the promise of poison, it was undoubtedly Orochimaru. “My old student, returned for her final exam, mmm, I think I’ll kill you last. And Shimura Danzō, my second master, who threw me to Konoha’s wolves when it was convenient. I so dearly want you to be first in line, but that honor must go to another today. And _Indra Uchiha_.” The snake hissed his name with such loathing Indra was faintly surprised the trees didn’t burst into flames anew. “The man who knows more than he should, with a single eye, a single arm, by all accounts a weakling among the Uchiha, robbed of his sight by my old teammates of that organization. The obvious bait he knew I could not resist and the offer he provided which was so tempting I simply had to hear him out. So very clever. So very foolish. I will kill you now!”

Indra’s sword flew to his hand as the white eight-headed serpent of the Eight Branches Technique exploded from the tree line alongside a dozen or so Sound ninja. The majority of the latter landed in front of Tayuya and several of them helped carry the unconscious bodies of the Sound Ninja Four onto their shoulders. Kidomaru’s enormous spider crawled forth from the summoning smoke beneath him and the spider-mimic soon rained hardened daggers and massive arrows down upon any Anbu from his heightened position. But Indra had eyes only for Orochimaru, crawling his way from the throat of his most powerful creation and covered in slime. The brief lull in the fighting Indra had caused was over and now was the moment the battle would be decided. Either the summoned creatures would break through the tattered Anbu line and escape into the forest or they would be overwhelmed, and Orochimaru’s Sound Village would die along with its Otokage. Anko drew a handful of senbon and rolled the poisoned weapons across her knuckles in a fierce anticipatory grin. “Any inspirational words for the troops, sirs, before we’re swallowed whole by a white snake?”

Indra pointed his sword at the serpent and said nothing more. For him, there was nothing left to say. But apparently Danzō felt differently. “Kill him quickly,” said the leader of Root as he brandished his tree branch, “and make it hurt.”

Neither Anko or Indra were particularly good Anbu agents and they would have been hopeless in Root, but they followed this order with zeal.

As they advanced to meet the wall of flesh and scales, the snakes spat poison down at them and some of the heads lashed out, driving new openings into the underground Sound complex. Indra kept the acrobatics to a minimum and simply charged straight forward, pushing chakra through his sword even as he pushed himself to stay conscious. Anko was all around him, flinging senbon into exposed golden eyes, kicking at their sensitive nostrils, or sending snakes of her own from her sleeves to entangle them for a few precious seconds.

Danzō didn’t even bother to put the blood on his thumb and slammed his hands against his bloody frame to summon his own elephantine creature to the field. Another massive plume of smoke that hid the ragged lines from one another as they met. Indra had only seen the Baki briefly in his first life, before he’d caused it to choke on a fireball, but it was magnificent. Claws slammed into the ground, crushing a Sound ninja beneath them as the beast put its shoulder into the Eight-Headed Serpent and brought the thing to a grinding halt. Two heads hissed in displeasure and made to attack, only for the creature to open its vast mouth and inhale. A powerful suction force tossed every ninja in front of it into the air and uprooted several weakened trees behind them. The heads were pulled forwards too, though their muscles struggled against the Baki’s pull uselessly. Once they were in its mouth, the creature bit down hard, causing the heads to spasm as their spines were severed and the stumps recoiled as other heads received signals of pain and death. Danzō gestured from the head of his summon and the Baki moved in closer even as several more heads sank poisoned fangs into its body in retaliation.

Indra and Anko were not allowing the old man to show them up, jumping higher along the necks of the heads that lunged at them. His sword flashed in the afternoon light as the lightning-elongated blade of the Chidori Sharp Spear extended to sever them. Three. Four. Five.

Orochimaru was down to three heads and Anko juked sideways as his sword shot forward, then swung wide in search of her flesh, then Indra’s on the backswing. “Sorry Master,” she called, not sounding sorry at all as she launched volley after volley of ninja tools in his direction. “You’ve fallen behind the times and the Leaf can’t have someone as crass as you soiling our reputation. Imagine how hard it’s been for me to find a date!”

A white head interposed itself and the rain of senbon, kunai, shuriken, miniature snakes, and dango sticks bounced off its scaly hide as it spat a return volley of venom at her. “And this dreadful tattoo has got to go most of all,” said Anko as the venom splashed over her cloak, which she discarded instantly, revealing her usual combination of beige clothing and questionably respectable fishnets.

“I can’t imagine why,” commented Indra as he shoved Kusanagi to the side in a sloppy parry. “Perhaps it’s because you’re wearing protective ninja underwear as normal clothes. My parenting books say the clothes you choose shape the attention you receive.”

“Parenting books?” was all Anko got out before she dove headfirst down the white snake’s throat, bypassing its fangs entirely and whooping on the way down.

“Ahh, yes, I’d wondered if we’d return to that subject,” crooned Orochimaru in satisfaction at having a rumor confirmed. “A fledgling Uchiha with two precious undeveloped eyes, a civilian girl with a talent for genjutsu, and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.”

Indra said nothing as his mouth pressed into a tighter and tighter line, lips growing white as the pain continued to increase. Now there was a voice in his head that sounded like Sakura, lecturing him in a worried-because-I-care voice about internal bleeding, bone shards, and puncture wounds. He kept going as the Naruto-voice joined in and Orochimaru and his sword kept prodding.

“They were the talk of the Village before you woke up, you know. Marched to the Hokage in ceremonial armor and caused quite a stir. The little bird had wondered if the village was really as safe as everyone had said it would be. Especially because you helped Itachi slaughter his whole clan. Or have you not told him yet?” A wide, self-satisfied grin spread across his face as Indra cleaved the second head down the middle as it rushed forward and the blood washed over his ankles. The last head looked dismayed as it realized it was the only living head atop an increasingly gory carcass.

The Uchiha tried to wink at the snake and at Orochimaru, forcing his lips into a smile. “Wide off the mark, I’m afraid,” he said aiming for casual banter and instead sounding like a gust of wind would blow him over. “I guess whichever little snake managed to hide away in the Leaf Village isn’t quite as good as they pretend to be.” Orochimaru’s face twisted into something hungry and full of naked fury as he charged, and Indra brought his blade into a guard position to meet him.

_________________________________

The last, and first, and only time he’d killed Orochimaru in his first life, Indra had taken his master’s words to heart. He’d cheated.

Misdirection and subterfuge to draw Kabuto away, psychological warfare and patience as weakness revealed itself, as Orochimaru’s body weakened and the moment approached when he would plunge into the body of Sasuke Uchiha and subsume his mind. Chidori-based ninjutsu to weaken his body still further as the Third Hokage’s final act had eaten away at the very idea of Orochimaru’s arms. A moment of genuine fear as the serpent-dragon Orochimaru had molded his soul into was revealed in all its monstrosity. Growing confidence as he felt the genjutsu and the soporific gas supposedly weaken his mind and Orochimaru reared to strike Indra down inside his own mind. Then, his Sharingan turned the tables, elegantly, smoothly, in a burst of genjutsu and long-suppressed hatred. Standing there in the room surrounded by the corpses of the monster that had been his master while a shrieking voice was buried inside his mind, Indra had allowed himself the dark satisfaction of a job finished.

None of that existed now, in any way Indra could have wished for. He only had a single Sharingan and his limbs shook each time the blocked Orochimaru’s strikes. He was exhausted, low on chakra, and hurt. Orochimaru was angry, and for all he could see, unmarred by weakness or wounds. But Danzō and Cat had harmed him, carved through body after body, forcing him to shed his skin over and over, to waste more and more chakra just to survive their pursuit. Blades of steel and wind had driven him to ground and though he could have escaped, Indra had been right that the three of them, Danzō, Anko, and himself, would draw him back. Indra had drawn him in, Anko had goaded him, and Danzō had made his measly hideouts collapse around his ears. He had little to lose now, other than his life, so Orochimaru fought with the strength, speed, and skill in kenjutsu that reminded Indra over and over the man had once been a Legendary Sannin.

But Indra kept going, blocking each strike even as he slid away on the surface of the white snake, retaliating with every scrap of his own trickery and remaining ninja tools. Shuriken on razor wire surrounded Orochimaru, crackling with lightning and the swordsman dodged and weaved through them. Small fireballs spat from Indra’s lips to set his hair and mask aflame, obscuring his vision and ruining his disguise. The man beneath was covered from the scars of Orochimaru’s adoptive surgery, but those golden eyes, framed by purple clan markings, still gazed out. In the instant it took for Orochimaru to rip the mask free from his vision, Indra was inside his guard, cleaving downward with a roar of effort. Kusanagi and the pale arm that held it fell away and out of view as it skittered down the side of the summoned corpse. The Uchiha felt a brief moment of triumph before Orochimaru’s other arm wrapped around his throat and his fangs pierced Indra’s neck.

In that frozen moment, the most Indra could manage was _I really hope he missed my jugular_ followed by, _He absolutely didn’t._ Then a tree branch came into view, followed by Shimura Danzō’s face in its grim serenity. The heavy wooden knot at the end of the branch slammed into Orochimaru’s face with the assistance of a chunin-ranked Wind enhancement jutsu and the snake Sannin stumbled backwards, fangs shattered, and borrowed features ruined.

Indra’s blade rose and Cat’s blade descended as Orochimaru’s decapitation of Beetle was returned with interest and in the shape of forged steel. He hadn’t even had time to scream.

Moments after the Snake sage died, his opponent slumped forwards and both Cat and Danzō, to their mutual astonishment, reached out to catch him. They lowered him onto the scales of the thing that was 87.5% dead and felt for a heartbeat. _Thump-thump. Thump-thump_. Cat realized she was shaking as the adrenaline rush left her body. “Thank the Gods he’s alive.”

Her commander grunted something vaguely approving, which was close enough as the final massive snake reared up with bared fangs and Anbu below shouted in warning. Suddenly the thing exploded from within with a massive detonation of gore, colored smoke, and confetti. “Aww shit,” grumbled Anko as she picked her way from the corpse and glittered confetti floated into the hair of everyone present. “I mixed up the surprise party seals with the delayed charge explosive seals. Auntie’s going to kill me.”

______________________________________

Sasuke had swam back and forth between his mind and Indra’s several times until he’d gotten bored and wandered around the shore of his uncle’s mind, kicking around interesting pebbles and shells. Doubtless Inoichi Yamanaka would have a great deal to say about some of the vaguely phallic shapes but to Sasuke they were just shells. He idly wondered if he had to go back to his mind to wake up, or if he would wake up in his uncle’s body. Neither possibility was particularly attractive at the moment so he kept wandering until a dark figure shoved itself out of the center of the lake and approached him at speed. Sasuke didn’t even look up from the peach-patterned shell in his hands. “Did you pass out again? I think I’m still passed out.”

“As soon as Orochimaru’s head hit the ground and not a second later,” said Indra in a mix of pride and exhaustion.

Sasuke glared up at him. “If this is your mind, can you at least not bleed on your seashells?”

With a thought the man before him was dry, unharmed, and as clean as if he’d stepped out of the onsen. “If this is going to become the regular occurrence I know it will, I’m teaching you how to dry yourself out”

“How do you know this will happen again? Your future vision?”

“They shot that eye out, remember? No, I know that because based on the signals I’ve been ignoring for anywhere between one to two hours of combat, I’m going to be drugged into oblivion first for the pain, and then for surgery, then for the other pain.”

Sasuke made a face. “Did you lose your other arm or something?”

“Nope, but I’m going to need new ribs, again. And my ex-wife isn’t here to regrow them, so that’s one more reason for the drugs. It’s almost enough to make me wish for Hashirama cells, creepy tumorous little things.”

“Like the First Hokage’s cells?”

“If a bunch of morally dubious scientists cultivated them in petri dishes, then yes. I have no idea how my ex-wife put up with them.”

“So your wife, the aunt I never met, was a medical ninja?

Indra nodded and sat down on the shore. “Well, if we’re going to be stuck here for a while, I can tell you the story of how she healed two idiots from the brink of death and punched a Goddess.”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t lie!”

“Absolute truth, I swear on our father’s soul. Now:”

His uncle cleared his throat and gestured at the sky as clouds began to form shapes. “ _Long ago_ _, in a distant land, I Tobi, the shape-shifting master of darkness, unleashed an **unspeakable** evil. But three foooolish ninja warriors wielding magical swords stepped forth to oppose me…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I mentioned I love ominous statements by ancient entities? I feel like I should, but maybe I’m just high on my own farts here writing Kurama's dialogue. At the same time, you have no idea how tempted I was to use the phrase "baka Uchiha" even though it wouldn't fit the context or personalities at all. I also finally let Indra get his Cool Ninja Moment. Also, always felt like Jirōbō was the most generic of the Sound Ninja Five, but his chakra absorption was an interesting and accidental call forward to the Rinnegan. So I let him use the Stone Golem from Shippuden’s atrocious War Arc, and had the cursed seal boost his power. Still kinda disappointed we never saw Original Timeline Sasuke really use that more in Shippuden before Itachi saw his brother had a tattoo, and was all "off to the removal shop now young man!"
> 
> Don't worry, not every red-haired person in the world is going to be an Uzumaki, but when I went back and watched the Sound Ninja 4 arc, she ticked so many of the boxes. Red hair, rude, strong enough life force to push away Shikamaru's shadow strangulation jutsu, it just seemed like something I haven't seen many people attempt, so you'll get to see where this goes.
> 
> Hashirama cells are the answer to everything and I hate it. I also hate how Wood Style is everywhere in the War Arc, which is exactly why [SPOILERS]. I imagine they’re kind of like benign tumors that act as a universal recipient. Extremely useful from Sakura’s medical POV. When Sasuke knows they’re the long-altered remnants of the previous sacrifices of the Divine Tree, well…He doesn’t want them attached to his wankin’ arm.


	32. Operation Harmony Pt 4:Regrets in the Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra wakes up with his injuries and makes a dangerous bargain

Indra had spent quite some time telling his children stories in his first life, whether it was one of Boruto’s requests for “another cool story Mr. Sasuke” or a much younger Sarada. “One more story before bedtime Papa?” As a result, he adapted fairly easily, giving his younger self stories of a powerful medical ninja who could heal any injury and whose fists could split the land asunder. Sasuke absorbed every one with a look of unabashed wonder. Indra wondered if Sasuke was truly allowing himself to be unguarded in this mental space, or the nature of mental projections simply made honesty easier. Either way, it was a chance to draw his younger self out of his shell, so he took it.

After a story where his wife had developed a cure for a chakra parasite that lived in a town’s well, Indra felt a tug in his stomach pulling him in the direction of consciousness and left with an apology. Sasuke nodded seriously and began the swim back to his own mind. He’d spent time with his uncle before, obviously, but it had just been them, without Naruto or Sakura there to interrupt. He had expected it to feel nice, but to Sasuke’s surprise, he almost felt lonely.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” quipped Anko as Indra let out a mulled groan and opened his eye. “Don’t bother trying to speak, I’ve wrapped your head in bandages and some spare wire to make sure your jaw doesn’t fall off and opened you up to check on some nasty swelling. It’s not as bad as it could be, three fractures and two clean breaks, so you’ll be on desk duty for a while, along with half the company. Thank the Gods we went with an all-Anbu force or we would’ve lost more to those Celestial Maggots, if that’s what we’re calling them.” She shivered and Indra gave a small experimental nod to convey his agreement. Danzō’s inadvertent name had clearly spread while he’d been out, which from the lighting, only looked to be a few hours. Night had fallen and the clearing around the wreckage of the Sound Village was dotted with medical stations, campfires, and the masked forms of Anbu either diving into the tunnels with flashlights or standing watch.

Indra met Anko’s eyes and held up a hand in a writing motion and a raised eyebrow. Communication was going to be important, especially because even if Danzō had saved his life, he wasn’t going to trust the man with all the secrets the Sound Village contained. Especially if one of those secrets was Jugo. The boy deserved better. Fortunately, Anko understood him. “Yeah, yeah, keep your headband on, I’ve gotcha.” She scrounged around and produced a few sheets of paper, a pencil, and a clipboard to bind them all together. “I’m not going to hold it against you, so no need to look so serious all the time”

Indra wrote down a small question mark.

“Killing Orochimaru before I could. It was on my bucket list, but hey, now I’ve had time to see what kind of a train he ran on you, I’m glad I stayed out of the line of fire. You know you had two hundred and twenty-six different kinds of poison in your veins?”

Indra shrugged and felt for his neck which was indeed wrapped in more bandages. Actually, most of him was bandaged or had wooden splints, so he wouldn’t really be fighting anytime soon. Most of those poisions had been neutralized though, the remnants of Orochimaru’s original experiments on Sasuke all those years ago, how he’d met Karin. Speaking of…

 _Did you find either of the Uzumaki girls,_ he asked _. Tayuya and Karin. The second one could have been at the Northern Hideout, but at this time I wasn’t sure. Short, red hair, glasses, rose-tinted eyes?_

Anko shook her head, a bitter look on her normally grinning face. “Sorry Indra-san, no dice. The Sound Four managed to break through and tie us down with spider thread before they got away and they ditched the summon once the big guy woke up. They all went on foot from there and we lost track of them once they crossed into Grass. Easily could have followed them, but given the fact we had a small war near their border, Lord Danzō didn’t want us pushing our luck.”

That left a bitter taste in his mouth, but Indra accepted it had been inevitable. Some of the Sound ninja would escape, but they’d hoped to tie down as many as possible for usage as bounties or bargaining chips. But especially…

“Yeah, yeah, we confirmed it after we made sure you wouldn’t die. No mud clone, no Body Substitution shedding, no Reanimation crap. Orochimaru’s dead and we’ve got his head sealed into a scroll, ready for the Hokage and the Council to receive it. At least now, I can rest a bit easier.”

_Considering you killed the Eight-Headed Orochi, I would say so._

Anko scowled at him and stood up. “Look, that was a group effort, don’t try and pin that accomplishment on me just because I killed the last head from the inside. I don’t need your pity, or your false praise.” She shoved a few items into a medical bag and moved off across the makeshift camp, doubtless in search of less idiotic patients to treat. Indra sighed through his nose, folded his hands and looked up into the sky. Considering how he wasn’t supposed to talk for a few weeks and from the wooziness, had been given enough painkillers to stagger an ox, some more company would be appreciated. An Anbu agent, one he didn’t recognize, leaned over, saw Indra was indeed awake, and left at a brisk pace. Damnit.

Well, he’d killed Orochimaru. Step one on his very long checklist was done and best of all, the snake didn’t have to stay dead. With the Evil Release Jutsu, Indra could unseal the fragment of Orochimaru’s soul the Sannin had implanted into Anko’s curse mark, just as Indra done the first time in an act of blind guess work that had helped the Shinobi Alliance win the Fourth War. An Orochimaru who hadn’t distorted himself with medical experiments, endless body theft, and who would see a Leaf Village that celebrated his death, might be more willing to listen to Indra. He’d never been entirely certain why the Snake had sided with him back in his first life and despite dozens of meetings with the man since then, on matters both personal and political, he’d never gotten a straight answer. Now, in this second life, he’d killed Orochimaru once again and would keep the snake’s possible revival as an ace-in-the-hole.

“Ah, you’re finally awake? Good, we have much to discuss.”

Indra silently cursed as Shimura Danzō wound his way around piles of medical supplies and approached him. The same Anbu from before carried a chair, which he placed at Indra’s bedside and Danzō settled in with a groan. “I think, from now on, I will leave these missions to younger men. Fly, you are dismissed.” The Anbu disappeared with a _woosh_ of displaced air as Indra readied his clipboard. If they were going to talk, he had questions of his own to ask, namely _What possessed you to invite yourself onto this mission and onto my own squad, no less?_

Danzō leaned forward onto what had been his tree branch and was now a smoothly carved cane. “Because considering what you’ve told me, even if your loyalty to the Leaf Village was beyond question, which it wasn’t up until now, I needed to make sure things went according to plan. You could have joined Orochimaru and killed my Anbu in the bargain as an offering to him. Agents have tried that before and I’ve lost Anbu to the snake just the same way.”

_The pages and pages of intelligence on members of a hostile intelligence organization wasn’t enough?_

“Trust, but verify, you should know this Indra-san. First rule of covert intelligence operations.”

 _I thought it was ‘Don’t do stupid shit’? sir._ Indra added the honorific as an obvious afterthought and the other invalid sighed and looked to the head of Indra’s bed, where a small lamp enclosed a flickering candle, giving the scene a small point of light.

“Originally I was going to congratulate you for your efforts today Indra Uchiha. The efforts you took to keep our squad safe amongst those Celestial Maggots were not unnoticed. That you, Cat, Anko, and myself all contributed to the death of Orochimaru can also be counted in our favor.”

The Uchiha did not react, only scribbling another question mark and leaning it in Danzō’s direction. The old man let out a deep sigh and leaned closer to the lamp, staring directly into the flickering candle within, watching it jump and beads of tallow roll down the sides of the fat yellow wax. Both were silent for some time before Danzō spoke again.

“I have no surviving children of my own, you know. My wife died in childbirth, and our son, in the Third War. The Shimura line will end with me, just as yours nearly ended with young Sasuke.”

Indra wasn’t sure where this was going, but a deep throbbing from his left cheek told him any attempts to speak out loud would be excruciating, so he kept his mouth shut.

“You’ve mentioned before you had a daughter and that, similarly, she is no longer with you. In that, we share a commonality I had not expected. So, despite how much we have clashed before now and how much we will doubtless clash in the months and years ahead, I cannot bring myself to hate you. Not the way I hated Orochimaru, or the rest of the Uchiha Clan.”

_???? Followed by a drawing of the red and white Uchiha fan._

“You had so little contact with them, you doubtless only saw the aftermath of the Massacre and not its creeping inevitability. Many of the Uchiha were plotting a coup and would have brought the village down to satisfy their ambition, or their feelings of wounded pride. They would have thrown away the loyalty of their comrades, the trust of the village, all that they had because a few hotheads were not content.”

Indra’s eye narrowed and he scribbled furiously on the clipboard. _The trust of a village that confined them to a compound, that isolated them from the political power structure, and ordered Itachi Uchiha to kill his own mother and father? Spare me the performance. I was not in time to save them, but I’ve done my homework, Councilor Danzō. I know enough that I could blow your involvement sky high the instant I return to the village. I had plenty of opportunities in the last six months. Now I want you to tell me **why**._

He underlined the last word twice with some vehemence and his eye flickered red as Danzō’s face morphed from exhaustion to grim acceptance. “Mmm, I had wondered what you knew versus what you only suspected. But I am too old and too tired to kill you, and you are too wounded to kill me, so I shall answer your question, from what Itachi was able to tell us. You must understand, things went wrong at every step-“

_You stole Shisui Uchiha’s eye, when he tried to stop the coup. You denied the Uchiha a chance to clean their own house._

Danzō took a deep breath and let it out slowly, tamping down his frustration. “That eye, above all else, was a danger. One day I will tell you and perhaps young Sasuke the story of why the Kotoamatsukami had to be taken, but it is not tonight.”

_I’m not going anywhere._

“…The first time your daughter failed, how did you react? When she tried to walk and stumbled, when she grazed her knee on a training ground, when she was wounded? When she was careless or overconfident or didn’t believe in herself? How did you feel, and then what did you do?”

Indra stared at Danzō, who was ignoring him completely in favor of the candle. The grim acceptance had collapsed back into exhaustion and suddenly Danzō’s age was cast in stark relief by the weak light. Shadows filled the deep lines in his face, born of stress and worry instead of smiles or laugh lines. The X-shaped scar on his chin was old and textured like the bark of an oak, while his single visible eye had deep bags underneath it. His hands shook slightly as they grasped the head of his cane. Not much, but the mere fact of it was enough. The formidable ninja no longer completely controlled his own body. He looked the same way Indra and his husband had during the Otsutsuki War. Old men, past their prime but still determined as ever, still filled with the deep love and devotion that had pushed them through those dark days. But still, they had been so tired, at the end. More than once, Indra had fallen asleep with his hand curled around Naruto’s, wishing with all his being he could rest. Then, his daughter had thrown him back through time and his years unwound like a spring. He looked young, he fought like he had been when he was young, but in his soul, he still felt old. Danzō looked how Indra felt as he repeated himself. “When your child failed, how did you feel?”

His pencil hovered over the page for a while until his thoughts ordered themselves. Her safety always came first, of course. But after that? _Regret, that I did not prevent the mistake, or prepare her better for the trials she would face. Sometimes, Disappointment, when it was something I knew she could have avoided. But now, I can never criticize her again. None of the Uchiha._

“Exactly. As parents we try to prepare our children the best we can for the world’s cruelties, its unfairness, but we can only do so much. Even when we or they make mistakes, no matter how much we wished it, those consequences had to play out. Both the Uchiha and Orochimaru allowed themselves to fail, or rather, they refused to consider the idea they could fail at all and so failed in the most total of ways.” The old man let out a bitter laugh. “For all their interest in eyes, they refused to see.”

_So you killed them because they failed?_

“No, they died because they failed the Leaf and now threatened it. Hiruzen and I, we tried our best, but we failed them as parents, of a sort, and so their failures do reflect deeply upon us.

…

Orochimaru drew my eye during the Third Shinobi War, though he’d served in the Second. He never had much in the way of natural empathy, only knew of its absence from his Master and his fellow Sannin. He saw they could offer others things he could not, and knew his talents did not lie in that field. He was still an exceptional ninja, gifted in many jutsu, and without scruples for the difficult jobs a war required. I brought him into my service, and it is no exaggeration to say our actions prevented the destruction of the Leaf Village twice over during those years. We were hard-pressed, so I ordered Orochimaru to continue research he had long abandoned. Any insight we could gain from enemy corpses, any scrap of advantage, I would take and consider it worth the price.”

Danzō lifted a hand and ran his hand through his remaining hair. “He never complained about any of it, even enjoyed the work, from what we could tell. But he knew enough to worry that his lack of worry was worth mentioning. I had thought it to be a developed trait, a defense mechanism after the loss of his Clan, just as Sasuke is now quiet and sullen.”

_Don’t you dare compare Sasuke to that monster! He’s nothing like him!_

“Not now, true. But monsters only become monsters when they are not watched, when they are left to be preyed upon by the world and they become jagged, sharp things. They find their validation in dark places and take it when they can. I had spoken with him many times about his worries, I had soothed his fears, told him his actions were justified. I thought that with my eye on him, away from the battlefield, he could learn to control his sociopathy. This man, I said to myself, this man could one day succeed me as the head of the Anbu Black Ops, and he had just the mind for it. A keen sense of politics, strategy, timing, and no inhibitive moral scruples like Kushina Uzumaki or Mikoto Uchiha.”

His voice grew heavy as Indra listened. “But I had underestimated his hunger for knowledge, and how instead of restraining his sociopathy, it found new heights. Ignorant, I proposed experimentation with Hashirama Senju’s cells soon after Tsunadae Senju fled the village, and we began in high spirits. But the worries Orochimaru had spoken of again and again were gone. Sacrifices must be made for the sake of the village, but fifty-nine children…”

Indra chanced a question. _Do you feel regret for your actions Shimura Danzō?_

At that, the man snorted and looked him full in the face, his face returning to its habitual small frown. “Regret, hmf. The Head of the Anbu must be made of sterner stuff. Hesitation breeds weakness, as with Hiruzen, and so hesitation is defeat. Once there is doubt, the battle is lost before it is even joined. I cannot allow myself to feel regret, Indra Uchiha. If I regretted those deaths, I would then be forced to consider all the others. I would become cautious and weak. The Leaf Village would come to harm. No, there can be no regret. Instead, I am disappointed. Disappointed the man I had hoped would succeed me instead chose to flee the village and become a makeshift ruler of a fantasy built on experimentation. I am disappointed the Uchiha chose a fight they could not win and lost before the battle had even begun.”

Indra began scribbling madly, but Danzō wasn’t finished.

“I respected your father very much, you know. “Evil Eye” Fugaku Uchiha, one of the best Clan heads in my lifetime. A strong man, a good man, but when it counted, he failed. He was the Leader of the Uchiha Clan, and if he had refused the young fools who called for revolution, for blood in the streets, they would have had no support. He could have turned them over to us, as a Captain of the Police Force, and justice would have been served. Instead, he allowed himself to be consumed by his wife’s hatred, then his Clan’s hatred, and sealed his fate. However, he retains my respect.”

Indra raised his eyebrow once more in a silent question.

“He refused to kill Naruto Uzumaki to accomplish his goal. If the Uchiha truly were behind the attack of the Nine-Tails as your story confirmed, he refused to repeat that madness. He had the Mangekyo Sharingan and refused to use it to unseal the Nine-Tails once more. He knew if his ability became known within the Uchiha Clan, they would force his hand, bring him the boy and either hand him the knife or just do it themselves. He knew by that point his wife would have burnt the village to the ground, but he refused to allow that to come to pass.”

_What I’m hearing is you and Orochimaru killed 59 children and Fugaku Uchiha the “traitor” refused to kill one. Then you sent Itachi, and he refused to kill again. Even as traitors, my family is more honorable than you are. But as long as we’re talking about children, I have a few more suspicions I’d like you to confirm._

Danzō sat back, his expression wary. His “confession” if that’s what this was, hadn’t garnered Indra much pity for the man. Tortured self-rationalizations and a refusal to admit mistakes meant nothing against the graves of his Clan. But Danzō had sought out this conversation, and even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud, did appear to be looking for some kind of absolution. Normally, Indra would’ve spat in his face, but this was an opportunity for Fû Yamanaka and dozens of other, younger, Root agents in training. He began to write.

_We’ve spoken many times, on many topics Shimura Danzō. But the only time I’ve truly shocked you was when I threatened to reveal Root’s recruiting methods to genin. The presence of Fû Yamanaka on this mission just confirmed my suspicions. How long have you been stealing Konoha’s children and disguising them as stillbirths? Or do you wait long enough for the parents to become attached to rip them away?_

The Leader of Root’s hands tightened on his new cane, but otherwise he did not move, composing his response very carefully. “Indra, again, we both know that is a hollow threat. You won’t tell the Council, or even one of the Clan Heads. To do so would risk the dissolution of the Leaf Village, invite a return to the Era of Warring States, or simply see clan after clan slaughtered or absorbed by rival villages. You would have far more blood on your hands than even I.”

Indra noted with a narrowed eye that the man had carefully avoided giving any answer one way or the other, but the threat was enough to keep his attention. He returned to the clipboard. _By taking the children in the first place, because of your greed, or desperation, or whatever lie you want to give me, you invited this calamity Danzō, not I. But before I offer you a solution to the near-certain death sentence you have given yourself, I’d like to ask you if you remember why Madara and Hashirama founded the Leaf Village in the first place?_

The old man let out a grunt of derision. “I was a boy when the Senju first grew that vast forest, when the Uzumaki and the Umino collaborated on the barriers, and everyone with working hands built the walls of the Leaf Village. Don’t pretend you have any special knowledge, illegitimate child of the Uchiha. They founded the village to cement the peace between their two warring clans, and weaker clans flocked to the area seeking both Uchiha and Senju protection. When Hashirama died, his younger brother, Tobirama was elected as Second Hokage and built most of the systems the Leaf Village uses today from more detailed governance to toe inter-village Chunin Exams.”

Indra made a disbelieving noise in his throat and wrote his response. _As precise a definition as can be found in a Konoha textbook, but I suspect you don’t want to remember the real reason because it exposes so many of the Second and Third’s failures, as well as your own._

“And what real reason did Hashirama and Madara have to found Konohagakure?”

_So their children would not have to die on the battlefield, killing other men’s sons. From my studies and memory, the Second Great Shinobi War was the only one to not have genin teams on the front lines at some point, correct?_

The cane stabbed down several times into the grass as Danzō tried to rise, but his muscles betrayed him. If anything, his glare at Indra intensified. “Those were desperate times even for the Uchiha, you presumptuous brat! We escaped annihilation at the hands of the other villages more times than I cared to count! The Second Hokage was forced to use forbidden jutsu just to create a stalemate, and the Third War lasted for seven years! Can you understand the toll such fighting takes on an armed force? Their social cohesion, their logistics, their infrastructure? Sarutobi and I never enjoyed sending children to war, but we can’t all have eyes that grow stronger when people die around us, can we, Uchiha? You speak as if you have any moral superiority, when your hands are just as dirty as mine.”

_The genin system is too entrenched now, thanks to your failures Danzō. Even if I were elected Hokage tomorrow, I could not reform it without outcry from the Clans. But the children under your thumb in Root? When did babies start disappearing from cribs? Ten years ago? Twenty? Twenty-five? I remember finding Uchiha dead in those unmarked graves from the Third War and there will not be another as long as I breathe. But I have a solution that could spare you the shame of a public execution, as I said._

Danzo was looking at Indra as if he wanted to impale the man on the bed with his cane, but finally acquiesced. “What plan do you have in mind?”

_There are children and teenagers within Root who you have not yet damaged beyond repair, or “trained to become perfect shinobi”. There are children we have captured here in the Sound Village as well, who were also being trained in this hellhole. Use one moral failing to cover another. When we return to the village, allow your recruits to mix with the refugees until they are indistinguishable. Then, people like Fû Yamanaka can return to their homes, and you can say to the Clan heads each one has finished the necessary training to control whichever unusual power you snapped them up for. A family happy to be made whole will not ask further questions._

“You ask me to sacrifice the future of Konoha’s covert operations program, to ease your bleeding heart? You are an even bigger fool than I had imagined. There is a reason I do not ask many adult Anbu to become Root agents, even Kakashi’s application was terminated, for all his promise. He was too emotional, while Root missions require dedication and silence that can only come from decades of training-“

 _Conditioning, you mean_ , wrote Indra in a scrawl that screamed outrage. _You justify traumatizing and sealing away children because you would need to completely break a Leaf shinobi to make them do what you ask. How much easier for you to use malleable children! To think it was Orochimaru who supposedly enjoyed young children. I suppose he learned it from you._

The cane cracked across his face and sent searing pain across Indra’s already broken jaw as the wiring there snapped. The released tension sent the wire flying upwards and tore through the bandages still hiding half of Indra’s face. The one-eyed man ripped them off angrily and forced his mouth to form words. “I am offering you a chance to redeem yourself, Danzō. You can keep your damned psychopaths, emotionless eunuchs, or whatever else you’ve done to the men and women you’ve made into shells, but you will let the children go. What you have built cannot be saved, so either allow Root to be salvaged for what good shinobi can be recovered from it, or bring down the village you swore to protect, just to hold on to power. Just like the Uchiha.”

“What you propose is the destruction of Root,” Danzō growled as he finally stood up, now leaning almost entirely on his cane. The Uchiha shook his head.

“The remaining Root agents will be the last of their kind, under your command still. They will live out the remainder of their days, giving their lives for the Leaf in silence, just as your code dictates. I have seen it,” Indra tapped his strangely textured cheek under an empty eye socket. “Most of them could not be recovered, and several who attempted it were driven wholly insane. Others became Missing-nin, striking out aimlessly, or joining groups that promised harm to anyone wearing a headband.” (At the time, those had been Allied Shinobi headbands, but Indra was omitting that particular detail of the future.) “This way, those ninja remain under your control, under Leaf control, while their successors get to try and lead decent lives as shinobi. Or bakers, or painters, or whatever they want. They deserve to find a future that you and the Second Hokage stole from them, when you both decided sending children to war was a good idea. This way, you get to keep your little kingdom underneath the streets of Konoha and get to be remembered as the man who brought missing children home to their families. Everybody wins.”

Danzō cocked his head. “But what do you get out of this, Indra Uchiha? You’re so willing to free all these children, who have already sworn to fight and die for the Leaf? Even with those children waiting for you to come home? Why, I thought you had already replaced your daughter!”

Indra slapped a hand over his remaining eye before the Amaterasu could bloom from it and he hissed as the black flame seared into his palm before he reflexively extinguished it. When he lowered his hand to reveal bright pink flesh, and a glowing red Mangekyo Sharingan, the leader of Root had unveiled Shisui’s red eye as well. “You are a cruel man Shimura Danzō,” Indra spat.

“Only to keep you honest, Uchiha.”

The worst part was, Indra couldn’t say the man was wrong. He’d failed as Sarada’s father and now, here he was, trying to raise Naruto and his own younger self, in some twisted kind of recompense. He could never replace Sarada, his love for her and the pain that spilled from it ran too deep to be removed. But he could be better. Because those children, both the ones in the Uchiha Estate right now and hidden away in Root, they all deserved the kind of life he didn’t get to have after the age of seven. He couldn’t be that honest with a man he hated so much, so he settled for saying the next best thing. Besides, Danzō had decided to go for gut punches first.

“I'm proposing this because I know the most important truth of all Danzō.”

He took the bait. “What truth is that?”

Indra smiled through freshly bleeding lips and the pain of his broken jaw. “Not all the Uchiha children died last year. You hid some of them in Root, didn’t you? Perhaps even before that?”

His Sharingan preserved the look of horror that slowly dawned across Danzō’s face and Indra knew he would treasure the memory. “If you slip them into the general population of orphans Konoha will soon receive, well, we all knew Orochimaru had an interest in the Sharingan, and he had an interest in vulnerable host bodies. You even get to blame your old student again, one more little bit of nostalgia, hmm?”

Danzō looked like he didn’t know whether to be outraged or impressed. “How long have you been planning this?”

“Since the moment we decided to go after Orochimaru, really. My plan was to find the closest Root agent after the battle and write you a very long message, but since you invited yourself along things became much simpler.”

“So you are willing to take responsibility for all these children, some of whom are already capable, battle-hardened shinobi? And aside from avoiding your threats of exposure, I will still lose Root’s future and gain only a few meaningless niceties from the Clan leaders. What do I gain, then Indra Uchiha?”

Indra pretended to study his fingernails as he thought.

They both knew he could easily force Danzō’s hand on the children, could bring it up in his private briefing with the Hokage. But Sarutobi had covered for Danzō’s crimes before, so he risked sweeping things under the rug. If the fact-finding missions across three villages had one thing in common during his first life, it was that politicians always preferred to kick problems down the road and if not, then to bury the evidence and continue with institutional inertia. Indra wasn’t going to let Sai and Fû Yamanaka spend a single moment more under Root’s thumb if possible. That meant he needed backup, backup Inoichi Yamanaka would be very willing to provide. The man was both a Torture and Interrogation jonin and a Clan Head, so no one could claim he had a soft heart. Additionally, the man had already proven himself to be trustworthy with some of Indra’s secrets, so he probably wouldn’t leak this to the rest of the village. Probably. Indra was well aware of the lengths an angry father would go to protect his children. But Inoichi wasn't here right now and Root's leader was.

Speaking of anger, Danzō’s own appeared to be under control for the moment. But if it wasn’t, Indra didn’t want to think about what a vengeance-focused Root could accomplish. No, if this was to succeed, Danzō would have to agree to the idea. Give the man buy-in on the decision. Indra had attended enough inter-village meetings to know mutual risk was the foundation of political compromise. _Again, Naruto should have been the one to come back instead of me. He would have already fixed so much of this without drawing a single kunai._ Of course, that also created the possibility of two Nine-Tailed Foxes running around, which probably would have given the Five Kage and most of the biju a heart attack. Indra forced himself back to the present. He had to focus on playing the hand he’d been dealt.

“I guess I’ll just have to owe you a favor.”

Orochimaru had lasted so long after the Fourth Great Ninja War because the man had collected favors from a great many power brokers, intelligence agents, and black-market dealers across the Five Great Nations. Indra had guessed, correctly, he’d learned the value of such an open-ended promise from Danzō. This was absolutely going to come back and bite him in the ass, but Indra knew he didn’t have many cards of true value to play at this moment. The alternative was a messy rescue mission in the depths of Root-controlled territory that guaranteed the deaths of both Anbu and stolen children. If Sai’s early freedom meant owing Danzō a favor, then that’s what it would take. He offered his hand and Shimura Danzō looked at for a long moment in the flickering lamplight, weighing the offer. “A favor, then?”

“Whatever you need me to do,” promised Indra.

As they shook hands and Danzō struggled to his feet, Indra prayed to Amaterasu and every God or Kami he could think of that he hadn’t just made a horrible mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so late today, I rewrote it twice and this last week has been pretty crazy. I had an insurance fiasco I scraped through by the skin of my teeth, but it'll work out.
> 
> I wanted to explore Danzō a bit more and make him a little more sympathetic and as usual it's a mixed bag. The thing is, he does have regrets about some of the things Root has done, but can't allow himself to admit it, because then he has to question EVERYTHING. Danzō also just helped kill the person he'd originally wanted as his successor and he held off on killing Orochimaru in the faint hope the snake sage would come back one day. Of course, seeing the Celestial Maggots and some of Orochimaru's other experiments killed that dream pretty hard, so he's all twisted up right now. Don't worry, Danzō won't be a huge part of the next dozen or so chapters, tbh. Now we get to move into the fun sidequests which will help fill in the three year gap I gave myself. (I won't cover them in excruciating detail, but it's something to keep everybody in the story doing useful stuff)
> 
> Edit: Added a little more justification to Indra's thought process.
> 
> Indra's also making a deal with the devil here, and he knows it.


	33. A Small War With Large Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra looks in a mirror and everyone takes a nap. Sakura discovers something curious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note Sept 7th 2020: Changed the romantic Sasuke/Sakura tag to a platonic Sasuke & Sakura tag after some excellent constructive criticism. It was never my intention to lead anyone on, so apologies if you stuck around this long hoping for that ship. I thought the romantic tag would still best apply when talking about Future Sasuke and Future Sakura’s previous marriage, but that wasn’t the case. Still, they both have a great deal of affection for each other, it’s just not romantic anymore. They’re still one of the most important people in each other’s life, and they did raise a daughter together (Naruto was also involved). Make of that relationship what you will, I wanted it to be complex, but I underestimated my writing skill and overestimated my tags. You are all wonderful readers, but you’re not psychic! Ok, apology over, back to the story!

“So Anko’s now spending a week with a bunch of genin remodeling her Aunt’s house on punishment detail…”

“Mhmm”

“Cat’s getting promoted to Captain, so I predict the barracks will tire of that rhyme before the spring hits. Oh, and her boyfriend finally worked up the courage to propose, even though he’s got that lung thing.”

Indra gave Kakashi a thumbs up over his shoulder.

“The Third Hokage is preparing to promote Sasuke to chunin and ordered the Science Division to build an artificial Naruto.”

Indra raised his eyebrow.

“Juuust making sure you were listening.”

Indra gave the silver-haired jonin a flat look. “Maa, Maa, it’s not like you have anything else to do after surgery.” Indra made a circular motion with his hand that meant _keep going_.

“Okay, finding my place again on the gossip-slash-briefing-slash-report card…Sakura found a genjutsu in the Uchiha Jutsu Vault based on Buddhist Reincarnation principles and wants to test it on Sasuke.”

Indra shook his head wildly. There was no telling what enormous can of Celestial Maggots that could unleash. “Naruto?” Even more denial. “I told her you’d mumble that, but she told me to put it on the list.” Perhaps she could test it on someone nice and safe, like Kiba Inuzuka. The boy was definitely not a reincarnation of anyone.

Kakashi continued. “Next, we’ve been trading Sound prisoners with Sand to build goodwill and have been turning in bounties for the Mist shinobi we caught. Cloud demanded we turn over the relevant prisoners to them, but a pointed letter about the Hyuga Affair shut them up rather quickly, while Stone’s been totally silent. You-Guess-Who’s been paranoid about that, but Intel thinks it’s just because Ohnoki is just trying to remember if any of those poor schmucks had information or jutsu worth starting a squabble over. Likely not, so back to business as usual. Pretty standard after a big Op.”

Kakashi flipped to the second page and by the sunlight streaming in from the window to his right, Indra could see it was heavily redacted in black marker. Danzō’s intelligence briefing then.

“We finally searched the bottom level of Orochimaru’s experimental chambers and found where he must’ve been breeding, or building or growing, the Celestial Maggots. Set every inch on fire, poured boiling water down into the cracks and buried the remains for good measure. They found more of those black stains in the grossest cell, and some pale flesh in around the wrist cuffs of the restraining chair. No sign of your archer though.”

Indra made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat and counted backwards. One more week. One more week and he would be free of this cursed mouth brace.

“-an improvement on whatever seal they had on Shukaku, so the Sand Village has seen less storms than it used to and Rasa apparently can sleep through the night, which has done wonders for his temper, I hear. Finally, the Chunin Exams are being held in Cloud, which means a Leaf genin has an equal chance of freezing to a mountain, falling off a mountain, or getting thrown off a mountain. As a result, Fû’s little shadows keep camping out on top of the Hokage Mountain and somebody has to pick them up when they get stuck in Lord Fourth’s hair. Not strictly a matter of Leaf security, but both Fû and Danzō have been complaining about it.”

He had no response to any of that, so he just shrugged and continued to examine what was left of his face. Danzō’s cane and the recoil of broken wire added another whip-thin scar up Indra’s jawline, but it was hardly noticeable compared to the rest of him. With the self-sterilizing bandages he’d been able to avoid looking at the wound the Otsutsuki’s arrow had caused and it was not a pretty sight.

Doctor Ontoba had done what he’d could, cleaned out the dead flesh and smoothed the edges, but the black arrow had left a ragged hole in Indra’s head where his Rinnegan eye had been. The hole itself was fortunately covered in shadow, even under the fluorescent light and Indra wasn’t ghoulish enough to look further. Besides, further light in that area could damage the remnants of his optic nerve even more, so he tilted his head back down and traced the scar tissue around the wound. A spiderweb of cracks spread from his cheekbone, each wavering path of scar tissue a sign of the heavy impact he’d endured. His initial assessment had been correct, he was definitely not going to be Konoha’s most attractive Intel officer anymore. Indra scribbled something on the clipboard he’d kept at his side for two weeks and held it up for Kakashi to see. _As a fellow dashing ocular injury survivor, what do you think?_

His old sensei leaned forward, his carefree manner partially sliding away as he took a closer look as well. “I think an eyepatch should be sufficient, let the scarring show but keep the wound itself hidden. Women like the scars, it gives you a rugged look.”

_It also makes me easily identifiable for enemy ninja. Think I should just wear my headband like yours?_

Kakashi slapped his shoulder with the intelligence documents in a forced attempt at levity. “Don’t go stealing my style Indra, I need to stay distinctive! Make your own wardrobe decisions.” He glanced pointedly at the purple scarf Indra was still wearing and the other man shrugged as if to say _what can you do?_

“You want me to finish this intelligence report, or take you shopping? Keep in mind there’s three very anxious children waiting outside.”

_Summarize the rest._

“Mist is still busy killing each other, Grass is furious we invaded the Land of Rice Paddies, and the damiyo of said Rice Paddies is alternating between blustering public statements and quiet appeals to the Leaf Village concerning those Celestial Maggots. I suspect Grass will be getting quite a few slash-and-burn missions to root them out.”

Indra pulled some of his hair down to cover his eye. It would do until they went shopping this afternoon. _Was that a subtle joke at Councilor Danzō, or was I reading into it?_

“Reading into it. Remember, you’re a regular jonin, back in the Leaf Village after pulling of a tremendously successful operation. No more black-ops for you in a while, and no more politics either.”

Indra smothered a reluctant chuckle and Kakashi had to admit defeat. “Okay, less politics. Next week, I’m taking you out drinking, it’s about time I complained at you for shoving three terrors into my face for weeks.”

They moved out of the bathroom as Indra’s response fluttered back into the Copy Ninja’s hands on a scrap of paper. _You know you love them._

Indra and Kakashi were greeted by three equally impatient faces and none of them were subtle about it. Naruto was of course the loudest. “C’mon Indra-saaan, we’ve been waiting forever. Is it really that hard to make sure you lost your eye?” Sakura and Sasuke shoved at him from either side, causing the blonde to wobble in place like a bowling pin. “Seriously Naruto, you have all the tact of a brick. When you become Hokage, I’m going to have to spend most of my day rescuing you from international incidents won’t I?”

“Sasuke, I’m pretty sure you both will get into plenty of trouble on your own, right Indra-sensei?”

Their temporarily mute guardian-slash-sensei raised his hand for calm and the children were at least willing to entertain the idea, though the boys carried on some low-volume bickering in the background. At this point, it was almost habitual banter, which boded well for Indra’s hopes. He scribbled a response. _If I have my way, all three of you will be absolute terrors as ninja, so there will be equal blame to go around. Sakura, I’d say you have an even worse temper than Naruto, you just bury it. Which is part of why the three of us will be attempting something unorthodox on this picnic today._ All three of them looked curious now, while Sakura looked slightly guilty as Indra continued. _In order to have an actual conversation, I’ll bring all four of us into Naruto’s mind, if he is willing._

Naruto tucked a hand behind his hair and grinned in relish. “Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting for today for-everrr!” He fished in his back pocket and produced a sheet of paper folded seven times to fit. “I even wrote up a whole list of stuff I’m gonna say to that bastard fox!”

Sasuke looked taken aback and Indra fondly indulgent, but Sakura just sighed. “Naruto, you know physical objects don’t travel with you into a genjutsu. It’s all just an illusion.”

Indra gave a wobbly hand gesture that indicated the rules were a little less black and white. He’d seen the Sage of Six Paths show up in his mind and fought there several times, so there absolutely was a physical component. But Sakura was on a rant now, going over the properties of a ninja’s mind (physical, brain-based) and a ninja’s soul (spiritual, infuriatingly enigmatic). After the terrifying afternoon where Sasuke had nearly drowned in nightmares, Naruto had lasted an impressive two days before he and Sasuke spilled the beans on the Nine-Tails to Sakura, who they’d found in the Konoha library surrounded by scrolls on spiritual disease and possession jutsu. She’d been the one to give Naruto the idea of actually visiting the Kyuubi, and in turn he’d insisted on bringing his friends for backup. So, they’d had to wait impatiently for Indra to return to the Leaf Village and then for him to regrow his ribs, a process Doctor Ontoba had overseen with a resigned acceptance. Now, they were combining the children’s “Yell at the Nine-Tails plan with Kakashi’s “Go on a Picnic” plan by gathering around the coziness of a _kotatsu_ and feasting until they couldn’t move. Well, everyone else would feast. Indra was surviving on Sasuke’s vegetable protein shakes and spite. _One more week_ , he reminded himself.

The four of them left the hospital in the direction of the market district, with Kakashi trailing behind, looking like he wasn’t sure if he should join the conversations or simply leave. He compensated by pulling out Icha Icha Holiday and drifting over Indra’s shoulder. The older Uchiha was also silent for most of the trip as he contemplated the idea that had struck him that morning. Danzō had spent the last two weeks loosening the parameters of the silence seals on the children in Root and covertly slipping them into the Konoha orphanage, which was now close to full. Fortunately, in the staff’s point of view, many of the new arrivals were quiet, dutiful, and almost never fought amongst themselves. Still, there had been some friction between the more aggressive orphans and the Root inductees, who tended to respond to violence with extreme prejudice. No one had been killed, but there were plenty of kids with headaches and bruised tailbones. Indra’s idea was to move the children, including some of the Sound refugees such as Yamanaka Fu’s newly adopted Kin and Dosu, into the Uchiha District. They needed a place Root agents couldn’t enter, live around other children, and Sasuke needed to see something in the District besides ghosts. The only question was if he would agree to it. Indra put the odds at about 50/50. “Hey Indra-san!”

He looked up to see Naruto grabbing a large stalk of broccoli. “Can we have crab _nabe_ , please, please?”

Indra looked to the others and Sakura nodded while Sasuke gave a more subdued shrug.

_Go for it, search out ingredients and wait in line. I’ll come find you three._

The children disappeared as Sasuke thought back to parenting book #2.

_Minor freedoms and expressions of independence should be encouraged, as they reinforce trust between parent and child._

“Hey, Indra, incoming five o’clock,” warned Kakashi.

The Uchiha stepped to the side, expecting another shopper but got an arm around his shoulders instead. “Well, if it isn’t the famously unexpected Indra Uchiha! Good to meet you in person!” said a jovial voice.

Indra turned and looked right into the eyes of Jirayia the Toad Sage.

His Naruto had said a great deal about Jirayia the Pervy Sage and most of it was glowing recommendations, or, if he was deep into a bottle, fond recollections of their two-year journey while Sasuke had been with Orochimaru. The man had been another father figure for Sasuke’s husband, so for that, he’d been grateful. That Jirayia was also Konoha’s Spymaster meant his noisy arrival in the market square was also not a coincidence, especially since the man had been Orochimaru’s teammate at one point. So, Indra pushed down the lightning chakra he’d been about to stream across his body at the unexpected contact and simply offered his clipboard.

_Can’t speak with a wired jaw, come back next week. You are welcome to join us for lunch if you wish. Apologies for the inconvenience._

“Oh, it’s no problem, I just wanted to personally congratulate the man who’s now gaining fame across the Elemental Nations. Plenty of fleeing ninja saw you kill Orochimaru, after all.”

They separated and Jirayia offered his massive hand, which Indra shook. The man had a crushing grip and Indra’s eye could see mixed anger and respect in the Toad Sage’s face, fortunately tempered by wisdom. This man knew Orochimaru had been lost for some time, but he wasn’t beyond a little petty revenge for his old teammate either. If a strong handshake was the worst of it, then good. But this was also a warning from Konoha’s spymaster that he was becoming a Person of Interest and to watch his back in the Elemental Nations. Both men stepped back as Jirayia continued to speak. “I’d honestly love to join you for lunch, but I’ve got a meeting of my own with the Hokage, and he’s not a man you keep waiting. See you later!”

He waved back at them as he walked away and Indra stared in bemusement after the shock of long white hair. _Not at all what I was expecting from Naruto’s godfather. Didn’t even try to meet him and this is the first time he’s been back in the village in what, nine years?_

“You keep doing this thing Indra-san,” grumbled Kakashi, “where you know way more than you should and it’s creeping me out.” Indra smirked and tapped his eye, which sent Kakashi off on a muttered rant about how eyes were the most common dojutsu and why couldn’t more clans just have decent smell like the Hatake or quick reaction time like the Ackermans?

Despite the Copy Ninja’s stream of commentary, they made the rounds of the market, collecting both the children and the appropriate ingredients for a rich steaming broth in addition to ten or so dark blue eyepatches. Indra wasn’t particularly surprised that he’d gained notoriety, but Naruto’s glowing memories of the Toad Sage didn’t fit a man who refused to meet his own godson. Perhaps it was the family-starved Uchiha in him talking, but Indra was at something of a loss and Kakashi didn’t need any reminders of the absence of adults in Naruto’s childhood until now. At least this year when the boy had turned ten, they’d been able to hold a small party which had made Naruto’s eyes light up like sapphires and gotten the emotionally constipated Sasuke a little choked up. What they were doing today had the same likelihood of causing tears, but they weren’t going to be the good kind. Indra hoped this wasn’t going to be another one of his mistakes, because he was making too many of those to be entirely comfortable with this. Still, all three of the children had insisted on it, and he had Kakashi as backup in case something went wrong. As the five of them settled into the decidedly cozy _kotatsu_ and the even more warming soup, decided to make absolutely sure. When all of them were finished and feeling decidedly sleepy, cozying up with pillows or propped against the couch, Indra fixed Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura with a stern look.

_One last time, I want to make sure you all know what you’re getting into here. You want me to bring the three of you, children, into Naruto’s mind so you can meet the Nine-Tailed Fox who most assuredly wants to break free and eat us all? You don’t see how that’s not concerning to me?_

Naruto shook his head while Sakura crossed her arms in defiance. Sasuke spoke first. “Look Uncle, we all know about it and now for some reason it’s taken up residence in two of our heads. Facing it together is the best strategy, so it can’t drive us apart with lies. We’ll all hear the same thing and once we know it’s real, it won’t seem so scary. Better to face the real thing than worry about some invisible beast, right? Like you said before, if something goes wrong, Kakashi can help.”

“I’ll do my best,” promised the Copy Ninja.

“Yeah!” Naruto chimed in. “We all go in my head together and kick his butt.”

Indra cleared his throat and glared at Naruto, who verbally backtracked immediately. “Not that we’re gonna try anything dumb like punching him, y’know?”

Indra had been very clear on that rule. As long as they were outside the bars of Naruto’s cage, their souls were safe. Once inside, they were fair game for the fox. Sakura’s hands were gripping the table as she kept silent but once Indra gestured to her the pink-haired girl slammed them down, making the other two jump in surprise. “No way, I’m not backing out of this! You guys all kept this a secret from me and I’m tired of it!” She looked frantic with anger as Naruto reached out to put a hand on her wrist. “I know I’m not from some special clan with old-ass bloodlines or anything, but I’m your friend! I want to be a great ninja just as much as you do and I’m gonna prove it! You watch, this’ll be my first big step!”

Neither of the boys said anything stupid like “It’s too dangerous” or “We’ll protect you”, which was good because if they had, Indra would have refused to take them down there at all. It would have showed they had been ignoring his warnings and his caution. Instead, Sasuke gave Sakura a small smile while Naruto squeezed her wrist. “Like you said, we’re gonna do this together.” All three of them had determined smiles now and Indra felt pride swell in his chest. Despite his mistakes so far, the kids were going to be alright.

 _Alright then, if everyone’s ready_?

They were.

 _Look into my eye and follow my lead_. His face was calm as the red and black of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan folded out of his pupil, wrapped each of the children’s minds in its embrace, and pulled them down, down, down. In an instant all three of them were unconscious, leaving Kakashi alone. He looked at each of their faces for a moment as he flipped up his headband then shrugged and returned to Icha Icha. No matter how relaxed he seemed, however, his eyes kept returning to his charges. Just in case. Just in case.

________________________

Indra had warned her the experience would be unpleasant, but Sakura’s first impression of Naruto’s mind was a mouthful of sewer water. Even if it didn’t exist, the taste was foul and she gagged as she spat repeatedly in an effort to get rid of the taste. Once she was done, Sakura rose and took in her surroundings with a wary eye. They’d arrived in a poorly lit, low-ceilinged sewer with bronze pipework along the walls. The water she’d had the misfortune to stumble into was perhaps ankle-high and Sakura was annoyed none of the others had the same experience. To her right, Sasuke had his hands in his pockets and was staring around with the bored expression he normally wore when he was trying to pretend he wasn’t staring just as much as they were. He snorted. “Yeah Naruto, this is about what I’d expect from your head.”

“Oh yeah, well what about yours?” retorted Naruto as they began to follow Indra down the winding passageways. “You’ve got all those nightmares he loves eating, right?”

Sasuke didn’t have a reply, but Indra’s voice floated back down the tunnel to derail the argument anyway. “Sakura, using what I’ve told you about mental architecture and self-perception, how would you describe Naruto’s mind? It’s good practice for all three of you.”

While Naruto protested that he wasn’t any good at genjutsu, so why should he have to learn this stuff, Sakura protested that she didn’t want to invade Naruto’s personal privacy. Even though Indra was facing away from them, Sakura could tell he was rolling his eye. “He’s given us permission to come inside his head, any conclusions we draw are his own fault. Now, Sakura?”

His tone was questioning, the gentle needling of a teacher who wanted the student to answer the question, so Sakura squared her shoulders and looked around.

“Well, from the narrow corridors, I’d say Naruto concentrates fiercely on what interests him, but has little interest in broader pursuits. The rust and low lighting indicate someone who uh,” She hesitated.

“Come on Sakura, tell me!” cheered Naruto and bizarrely she found herself warmed by the praise.

“Someone who has emotional or spiritual detritus which clouds their spiritual energy.” Sakura started to shrink back slightly, but a hand on her back forced her forward. She looked back down the tunnel and saw the transparent form of her Inner self giving a determined thumbs-up before vanishing. She looked back and Naruto didn’t seem offended, which was a relief. Sasuke lifted one sodden sandal out of the muck and gave the back of Naruto’s head a disdainful look. “What about the water? Indra-san’s head has a big lake but it’s not as gross as this.” Naruto let out a half-hearted noise of protest as Sakura shrugged. “Indra-san said lots of people’s heads use water as a visual metaphor because of its fluidity, transparency, and symbolic value. It’s not unusual.”

Sasuke gave her a half-smile of silent thanks but it died on his face when they felt a wave of malevolent chakra pulse through the tunnel. “Woah,” Sakura breathed, half in awe and half in revulsion. If the sewer water was bad, this was worse, because it tasted foul. Like battery acid or ash, if she had to guess. Even Sasuke’s “Yeah,” was shaky. Indra drew his sword and Sakura suddenly realized none of the others had any weapons with them. If this was Naruto’s mind couldn’t he like, put them all in samurai armor or something?

A second wave of chakra came down the tunnel along with a roar that sounded far too close for comfort. “Alright, everyone,” called Indra back down the line. “Stick together and remember, Kurama can rage and snarl all he wants but he can’t hurt any of you. Not while I’m here.” His voice was strong and confident, but Sakura found herself slipping her fingers into Sasuke’s hand nonetheless. He looked back at her, surprised, but accepted the contact as his free hand likewise moved up to grasp Naruto’s. Naruto just grabbed onto Indra’s belt and together they moved forward.

Only two tunnels later, the group emerged into a vast space. Sewage pipes larger than any of them spanned the walls, feeding water down into the space, but the water below them never rose an inch. Beyond them was a massive golden gate, with thick bars and a paper seal over the lock. What lay beyond the gates turned to look at them with one fierce red eye and Sakura peed herself a little. Even hidden in shadow and separated by a very sturdy-looking cage, the Nine-Tails was still terrifying. Sasuke swallowed heavily in front of her and she felt his hand tighten on hers. Indra-sensei strode forward and planted his sword in the ground.

“Greetings again, Lord Kurama, mightiest of the Biju. I thought it time we finally spoke as comrades and not as adversaries.”

The shadows parted as an impossibly wide smile spread across the Kyuubi’s face. **Indra Uchiha, as bold as ever. Tell me, did you have to beg the Hokage on your knees, or was your brat’s testimony on my behalf enough? And look!** The Fox’s smile was a cavern of ivory fangs and pink flesh as it licked its lips. **You’ve been kind enough to drag my idiot prison down here as well. I had wondered what it would take to give him even a speck of spiritual awareness. Not very much like your mother at all, are you runt** **?**

“Sh-Shut up! You don’t get to talk about my Mom!”

 **Considering she kept me in her soul for twenty-seven years, I would say yes I actually do.** The vast movement and wind meant the fox was swishing its tails in satisfaction and Sakura moved forward to put her hand on Naruto’s shoulder along with Sasuke.

 **In fact, I would say I am the one who knew her best. Every dark crevice, every weakness in her soul was open to me and oh, there were so many by the end. Should I tell you what she looked like with the Uchiha bitch inside of her?** It laughed, a thunderous sound that had all of them cover their ears and in that reflexive moment, Naruto sprinted towards the cage, furious curses flying from his lips. Indra caught him by the scruff of the neck and, without looking, hurled him backwards. Sasuke and Sakura caught him as he landed and wrestled him to the ground as he struggled against them. “Screw you, you bastard fox!”

Several times Sakura felt additional transparent arms emerge from her own shoulders to help restrain an orange-clad limb, but if Sasuke saw them, he said nothing. He was holding in his temper as well, his mouth a flat line as the beast dishonored both of her friends’ parents. She heard Indra’s voice drop from pleasant to ice cold in a second.

“I didn’t expect the first and greatest of the Tailed Beasts to take such joy in petty cruelties. Considering the lengths you went to help Sasuke, I thought perhaps we had reached an understanding, Nine Tailed Fox. Or Kurama, which do you prefer? If you continue to act like a beast, I shall treat you like one, but I would rather not.”

The Fox snarled and stabbed forward, but Indra had kept well back from the bars of the cage and the massive claws only protruded several feet instead of impaling the man. **I will treat my cage with the respect he deserves, which is nothing! He is spiritually blind, deaf, and dumb, an unworthy heir to Kushina Uzumaki. The damned Fourth Hokage was fool enough to rip me in half and thought sealing me inside a child would be enough to keep me from my vengeance. No, Indra Uchiha, you and I will have revenge against the arrogant bastard who enslaved me that night.**

“You told me that Six of the Nine would fight with my uncle,” broke in Sasuke as he strode up to stand just behind Indra’s protective form. “And you’ve clearly got a grudge against the Uchiha, but they’re all dead, so what’s the deal?”

“Yeah!” piped up Naruto from below her as four arms held his own behind his back. “If you’re bummin’ around in my soul ‘cause the Fourth was a jerk and eating Sasuke’s nightmares to fix that, you owe us some answers!”

The Fox’s reply was another snarl and movement of shadows as the Tailed Beast paced back and forth in the limited area beyond the gate. **A brat, a runt, and a flower petal, I owe you nothing.** Sakura shivered as the malice layered into that statement washed over her but kept her hands tight around Naruto, who still looked like he might make another run at the cage. She dragged him up into a standing position and moved over to the Uchiha in front of the seal as “Kurama” continued. **Of you, only the cripple is sensible enough to understand the true war that is coming so my brothers and sisters can be free once more. With that common interest, our goals align. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t just stop at the guilty Uchiha.**

“You’re keeping me alive so you can heal yourself!” said Sasuke in triumph as he came to the realization. “But why are you only eating my nightmares and not all of the Leaf Village?”

Sakura answered for him. “Because Dreamwalking requires not just physical proximity but an existing connection to bridge the gap between sleeping minds. And even then, it’s dangerous for mortals in case they get lost or run into a Baku demon eating other people’s dreams.”

The Nine-Tailed Fox snorted in what seemed to be amusement. **The flower petal has done her research, it seems. Tell us then, little petal, what the difference is between a Baku and the Kyuubi no Kitsune?”**

Drawing strength from the presence of her friends and master, Sakura locked eyes with the Nine-Tails and answered. “The Baki is what was just left over when the Gods created the universe, but they say the Sage created you deliberately.”

Her opponent hummed appreciatively. **Yes, little petal. All of the Tailed Beasts have a purpose allotted to us, which humans have denied to the world for a hundred years now, with little hope of escape. Your selfishness leads even now to your ruin and our imprisonment in jinchuriki allows us a front-row seat.**

“But you still didn’t explain why you’re eating my nightmares,” protested Sasuke, his hands balled into fists and his voice rising in frustration. “Can’t you just, remove them or something?”

“If you’re hungry,” said Naruto, looking reluctant, “I’ve got plenty of nightmares you can eat an’ you don’t even have to leave my head.”

The others actually looked away from the murderous biju to stare at Naruto in astonishment, even Indra. The boy turned red under the attention and kicked at the water to not meet their eyes. “I just…I know what it’s like to be starving, y’know?”

Even the Kyuubi was stunned into silence for a moment before Indra began to chuckle, holding his hand up to his face. “Oh, Naruto,” his voice was wistful, “how I’ve missed that typical Uzumaki empathy.” Sakura narrowed her eyes and saw tears drip down from his face to make small ripples in the water below them. _Well, he had mentioned he’d married an Uzumaki so…_ She put the thought aside as the Nine-Tailed Fox spoke again, but it was quieter this time. Less, aggressive, somehow, even though its very existence was an act of aggression and contained violence. **Curious.** Just the single word, nothing more, so Naruto filled the silence.

“Well, it’s not like I forgive you,” he muttered. “You killed a lot of people and my parents and the Fourth Hokage, so if you try anything like that I’ll never let you out.”

Sakura and Sasuke shot him a _Stop talking you idiot_ glare, but it was too late. The Nine-Tails had picked up on the implication. **So, a century of imprisonment is about to come to an end, perhaps. Hmf, Mito Uzumaki had plenty of sweet promises as well, but here I am thirty-six years after her death and I have yet to taste the sun. If this is a false promise, I can assure you I will show no mercy, Uzumaki.”**

“I’ve got a name, y’know!” protested the blonde. “It’s Naruto Uzumaki, and you gotta use it! Indra-san, what was this jerk’s name again?”

Indra looked deeply amused, but if he had any thoughts on the exchange, he kept them to himself as the fox clashed his teeth. **Indra Uchiha, how you learned it I do not know, but if you value the soul of the brat, you will not speak my name in the runt’s presence. He is nothing like the Old Man, so he will earn it, if at all. Until then, I am simply the Nine-Tailed Fox.**

“Pfft, whatever.”

“Naruto,” warned Indra in what Sakura realized was her mother’s “Apologize now” voice.

“Ughhh, fine. Thanks for not eating Sasuke’s soul, I guess.” Naruto gave the cage an unimpressed look and stalked off towards the entrance without looking back. He was copying Sasuke now. As Sakura and the Uchiha tried to process this new sullen Naruto, Kurama had to hide his smile. _Oh, there was a buried vein of deep anger there, a flaw in the Fourth’s precious desperate cage. He could pry it open, he just had to use a light touch_.

In front of Sakura, Indra was continuing to speak, outlining plans to visit several of the villages. Something about men in cloaks. Sakura wasn’t listening to the specifics because Sasuke had drifted back and was now holding her hand as he moved her away for a private conversation. Naruto’s mind wasn’t exactly where Sakura had expected this to happen, but she wasn’t complaining. Actually, what she was trying to do was shove down all of her Inner Self’s “advice” and pray Sasuke didn’t notice. He did, but at least looked slightly concerned.

“You’re really red, you okay?”

Sakura shook her head. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me. What did you need?”

“Just thinking. Have you ever seen Naruto get angry?”

“Are you kidding, you guys fight all the time! I’m just glad I can go home to some peace and quiet, Indra has to listen to you all weekend.”

“No, like, actually angry. Ever?”

She thought. “Not really. Why?”

“So you remember when he and I did that big ceremony so we could meet with the Hokage and get some answers, one of which was that jerk?”

“Well, I wasn’t there, but yeah.”

“I only figured it out listing to the Kyuubi talk, but,” Sasuke lowered his voice enough Sakura had to lean closer to hear him. “I think every time Naruto gets angry, that seal loosens just a bit. Not much, but just enough. You saw how the Nine-Tails was goading us, what if there’s a point to it?Back when he threw that kunai at the old man, Naruto sounded like the Kyuubi.”

Sakura drew back, skeptical. “You’re sure?”

“Would I say it out loud if I wasn’t?”

Sakura was forced to admit he would not. “So, what, you want us to tell Indra-sensei?”

Sasuke looked affronted and crossed his arms. “No way, we’re already on thin ice with the whole dreamwalking thing, you want him to get locked up forever? He’s our friend! No, what we do is we keep quiet about this and wait until the next time Naruto gets angry. If anything like that happens, then we can go to my uncle.”

“You have got to be joking.” They both looked up at Indra’s outburst. “You’re saying Shukaku actually agreed with you? Last I checked he was a drunken, blood-crazed spirit sealed into a teakettle or some red-haired kid.”

**Half the reason some of my brothers joined us was because they were unsettled by a Shukaku who could speak in complete sentences. A One-Tail who was actually serious meant genuine danger.**

“But he didn’t say how he’d learned this? No premonitions or anything?”

**We are Tailed Beasts, not oracles. I thought you were the one who could see the future.**

“Past tense,” said Indra grimly brushing his hair up to reveal whatever was underneath the black eyepatch. “The more we change to our advantage, the more out-of-date my intelligence becomes. However, we should hold the advantage for some time. If I have need to further consult with you, may I have your permission to return here?”

**Provided you keep that damnable eye to yourself.**

Indra bowed deeply to the fox spirit.

“Your hospitality is greatly appreciated Lord Kurama. Until we meet again.”

**Until I am free.**

Indra strode back through the water and swept the two younger travelers in his wake as they bombarded him with question. But of course, the Kyuubi had to have the last word.

**Flower petal.**

The Uchiha kept walking, seemingly deaf, but Sakura turned on her heel. “Yes, Kyuubi-san?”

 **You have a curious mind** , said the beast within Naruto’s soul. **Guard it well.**

She turned and followed the Uchiha back to Naruto’s sulking silhouette in the tunnel beyond, the Tailed Beast’s words ringing in her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure, this Chapter isn't as well-done as I would like it to be. I went over it twice and the scenes with Kurama felt like they needed more anger, more emotion, when right now they just feel like I'm hitting the minimum required notes. Still, I promised everyone updates on Saturdays, so update I shall!  
> Also, why do I keep adding subplots when I already have the broad plot charted out? Oh yes, because I'm insane. I also don't really know what a "breather episode" is, so sorry about that too. This Chapter is like 60% of one, but not entirely. Also can't spell the Toad Sage's name naturally Jariyia, Jirayaya. Jiryoyo. See? I also hate my broken spacebar key, so apologies for spacing issues. Fixing that costs $300 which I don't want to spend. It's a sticky key, not a shattered limb.  
> I know people loathe when Kurama gives Naruto an affectionate nickname, but this isn't that. In the anime he almost never refers to Naruto by name until very late in the game and mostly just calls him "runt" so that's what you get here. Sakura has also accidentally given herself a Stand, but only in the psychological sense, like in her fight with Ino. That was a really funny and interesting piece of Sakura we never touched on again, which was a shame. Now, it's not going to be a superpower, or mega-DID, but right now Sakura's taken all the "unladylike" feelings she had and dumped them into Inner Sakura. As her character develops, Inner Sakura will also change somewhat. And yes, Future Sakura is out there,I have not forgotten. She's just more subtle than Mr. Lightning Bolt Boy. Speaking of, if you want to imagine Indra's facial scars, just take the crackling scars from lightning strikes and put them in a rough circle around his missing eyeball. It does make him more ruggedly attractive, and personally I always had a thing for people with eyepatches. I blame Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Asuka Langley Shikinami.


	34. A Night on the Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra and Kakashi go out drinking, while the children have a slumber party.

Indra glared down at the children and turned his Uchiha scowl up to full force as he folded his arm across his stump in a suitably intimidating pose. “So, one last time, tell me what you’ve promised not to do.”

Naruto counted off on his fingers. “We’re not supposed to leave the village. We’re not supposed to try new jutsu. We’re not supposed to talk to the Kyuubi. We’re not supposed to go bug Sakura.”

“And why did I make these rules?”

Sasuke scowled at his friend, who was the source of all the possible problems his uncle saw, obviously. “Because it’s a school night.” He turned to look back at his uncle with the same skeptical look. “But then why are you going out with Kakashi?”

Indra gave a very good impression of a put-upon sigh, but Sasuke spotted the tug at the corner of the man’s lip, which meant the one-eyed Uchiha was actually looking forward to this. “Because I’ve only just gotten these wires off my face and he wants to celebrate.”

“But we already celebrated, y’know?” protested Naruto, “How is Kakashi’s idea of fun different from ours?”

A mop of grey hair leaned down from the doorframe. “Because it involves alcohol, Naruto. You’ll understand when you’re older.” The man grinned from underneath his mask and flipped down to a standing position from the roof without even a hitch in his breath. The boy lost interest and turned to go back inside. “Pfft, whatever. All that stuff does is make people stumble around and puke all over the place.”

The youngest Uchiha pointed an accusatory finger at the two ninja. “I’ll make sure Naruto doesn’t burn down the District, you make sure you keep the Clan’s honor intact.”

Indra held up his hand. “I swear on the Sacred Flames of the Sun Goddess.” A smile broke out. “Now go, I’ve stocked the freezer with enough ice cream even Naruto shouldn’t be able to eat it all. And you both picked out movies, so you can’t possibly complain.” For a moment, it looked like his younger self might make the attempt anyway, but he rolled his eyes and followed the Uzumaki back into the house.

“Well, now that we’ve gotten all the responsible adulting out of the ways,” chirped Kakashi, who was looking far more chipper than any man should at 7:30 PM, “it is now my responsibility as a jonin to get you absolutely wasted.” The men strolled out of the Uchiha District, giving a lazy salute to the deliberately visible silhouette of Mongoose, on “babysitting” duty. Indra had gone out drinking with his sensei in his past life, but that had been when he was married, divorcing, and remarried, while Kakashi still had to maintain the reputation of the former Sixth Hokage. None of this was the case now and “the two most eligible bachelors in the Leaf Village” were going to have a night on the town. Because this was Kakashi, who planned everything, even his leisure activities, the Hatake had developed a three point route through the market district to “pregame”, then a twelve to seventeen-point route through the bars of the Red Lantern District, depending on how drunk they were and what interests they had. Indra actually found himself rather touched. Still, he could feel a headache coming on. It wasn’t the heated argument with Sasuke earlier over the “Sound orphans” who wanted to join the Uchiha District, but rather, Kakashi’s continued presence as he walked through the suddenly too-familiar streets. The Leaf Village of his childhood and the Leaf Village of his adult life kept awkwardly intersecting in his mind and it was maddening. As a genin he hadn’t taken note of where the bars had been, and the ones he’d frequented in the rebuilt Leaf Village mostly didn’t exist yet. He rounded on Kakashi, who was writing notes in a small booklet.

“So are you going to hide behind Icha Icha like you normally do or am I going to have an actual conversation with you for once?”

“Maa, maa, Indra-san, I’m going to write up a whole report on which fine establishment you’ll grace with your presence. You’ll have to beat off the ladies with a stick.”

“Beat off the ladies?” Kakashi had provided ample rope, and Indra let him hang himself as the silence stretched.

“Only a figure of speech. Besides, I have a bet to win.”

“Hn”

“Anbu money’s split between weepy drunk or angry drunk. No, I won’t say where my money is. Professional courtesy, of course.”

Indra rolled his eye, which was both less visible and ineffective. “You all had nothing better to do on guard duty?”

“Hey, Anbu guard duty is a highly coveted, dangerous series of assignments!”

“Running a betting pool.”

“You’re a shinobi, don’t act so superior.”

Indra smirked.

“Just surprised you told me, considering I might ruin your bet.”

Kakashi had the grace to look affronted. “I didn’t even tell you how I bet! Take a right here, we’re hitting Hozengo’s Grill first.”

A few minutes later both shinobi had perched themselves on barstools and were nursing beers. Kakashi was looking forward to seeing how unsettled Indra would be when the Copy Ninja could drink his way through an evening without actually showing his face. Unfortunately, Indra wasn’t peering at him the way other ninja did when he joined them at the bar. For once, Kakashi was going to have to be the one to bring someone out of their shell. How odd.

“So, I was curious…”

Indra turned to look at Kakashi with a vaguely interested expression as he downed half his glass in one long pull. “A dangerous trait for a ninja.”

“You’re mysterious enough to make the Anbu commander tear out their hair, so sue me. Just wondering, you invoke Amaterasu, the sun goddess more than most Konoha ninja. Any particular reason for that?”

Indra shrugged. “For a while, I didn’t think gods were real. If they were, pretty sure they hated me. But I had a few encounters that made me rethink that.”

“Interested in sharing any of these moments of divine enlightenment?”

“Mmm, not particularly. But I figure if I’m going to be invoking any Gods, it might as well be the one Madara named several jutsu after. Besides, at my age, the idea of an afterlife is more of a comfort.”

Kakashi gave Indra a flat look, which was impressive considering how 85% of his face was covered. “You’re only a few years older than me, don’t go talking like some kind of old man.”

Indra’s grin was small, but definitely present. “Kakashi, we’ll both be old men before you know it. Enjoy that youthful metabolism while it lasts.”

“Spoken like someone who can’t hold his liquor.”

Indra wordlessly drained the rest of his glass. “Next bar then?”

Off they went.

__________________________

A black nothingness intruded upon the world of the Uchiha District, in a shadow-covered corner of what had once been Hominko Uchiha’s back garden. Lines reached from the point, the black void eternally hungry for purchase upon the material world as it relinquished its master once more, but Obito Uchiha was long accustomed to the pull of his Kamui dimension. He ran one gloved hand through his short black hair and sighed, more a forced release of tension than any real relief. These streets held many memories for him, most of them bad. Ostracization and isolation early in life, then a night of sweet bloody vengeance upon the Clan that had abandoned him, left him for dead, and now consisted of four Uchiha in the world, only two of whom were officially loyal to the Leaf Village. Obito was here to check on them both.

This was partially for his own benefit, but also because, in an unusual move, Itachi had asked him to. Neither Uchiha trusted the other one bit, but Sasuke’s older brother had been sent on a long-range scouting mission to the Hidden Stone with Jūzō to track down one of the Sage’s Ten Rings. While Kakuzu and Konan had both questioned the need for S-Class ninja to hunt mere baubles, Pain’s reassurance that the rings were needed to ensure a safe sealing process of the Tailed Beasts had settled the matter. Their initial attempt to seal the Five-Tails had only barely succeeded and had resulted in the deaths of two previous members. Deidara the Explosive Expert had meant to be a replacement, but…

Obito realized he was grinding his teeth and stopped, drifting silently from shadow to shadow as he moved across the Uchiha Estate. Things were proceeding smoothly, he reassured himself, only half-believing it. He was adaptable, clever, powerful, that was why Madara had given him his name, was why he had enlisted multiple S-Class ninja, including one who had the potential to be a second Sage of Six Paths. The death of a few prospective members, Orochimaru’s defection, and the return of an unexpected Uchiha were only mild changes in the grand scheme. He could and would adapt. Their recent heist in Grass had boosted the Akatsuki’s coffers significantly, so seeking out more ninja was no great trouble. His little Civil War in the Mist Village, which brought him no end of delight, was entering its third year, and several promising individuals on both sides could be lured away with the right incentives. Such as immunity from the Fourth Mizukage’s infamous retributive rage.

One such candidate even now, dwelt in the house ahead of him. Obito heard the scuff of a boot on roof tiles and pressed against the alley wall, his unmarked robe making him nearly invisible in the winter night. He’d foregone his orange mask in favor of a more subdued black and-silver ensemble which would mask his visage in a storm, but he still didn’t want to be seen. The Uchiha heard a heavy breath as someone walked along the wall above him and the sound of gloved hands rubbing together with a muffled curse. “Damn Kakashi, that card-counting bastard. I knew he was angling for something when he suggested we bet favors. Then I’d be at home in bed instead of freezing my tail off out here guarding a couple of kids.”

Obito cocked his head. If an Anbu was guarding multiple children, that meant a high-value client sequestered in the mostly abandoned Uchiha district for their safety. Something worth checking on, if only out of espionage habit and pure mercenary value. (Kakuzu’s lectures about money might have rubbed off on him more than he’d thought.)

As the Anbu moved off through the darkening night, Obito followed silently, becoming more and more certain of their destination with each turn. The Anbu hopped down to land in the street in front of the Uchiha Clan Head’s house with a slight grunt as Obito silently brought up his hands in a battle stance. If the man turned, Obito would kill him before he could even scream. But Mongoose was cold, grumpy, and only interested in getting out of the biting wind, so the lanky man opened Itachi’s old window and slipped into the Uchiha household.

Obito stood there in the shadowy street, mind racing. An Anbu sent to guard multiple children inside the Uchiha Clan Head’s house, highly likely one of them was Sasuke Uchiha. He’d promised Itachi that he would check on his younger brother and, despite all his attempts to bury it, Obito did feel a slight twinge of kinship with the other Uchiha genius. Slaughtering all your other relatives wasn’t a healthy family activity by any stretch, but it meant Obito hadn’t dismissed Itachi’s request out of hand. For the reserved Uchiha to ask him for anything meant a great deal, and Obito intended to cash in that favor at some point. Agent Mongoose ahead of him proved how important it was for one ninja to owe another a favor. Unfortunately, it would cost this Leaf shinobi his life.

___________________________

Indra and Kakashi were six bars deep into their adventure and were reaching the precipice that separated casual drinking and a more concentrated effort to get hammered. The Copy-Ninja was ambling along at Indra’s side and letting the man continue the argument some brash chunin had started about the limitations of Water-style jutsu. Indra was gesticulating angrily with both his arm and stump, while Kakashi was trying to come up with some way to calm his drinking partner down.

“-so yes, there are environmental limitations, but that’s only if you’re a pea-brained idiot! The humidity in the air of Fire Country and most of the southern peninsula is perfectly workable. Hells, Mist-nin can use the spit in their mouths, so tell me how that’s an environmental restriction! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone create a Great Water Dragon from nothing, but that’s about it. You ever see anything like that Kakashi?”

The grey-haired man wracked his alcohol-soaked brain. “Nothing. Say, do you have the time?”

Indra checked his watch, which mercifully diverted his train of thought. “Ten-seventeen PM. What, you thinking of tapping out?”

Kakashi huffed in exasperation. “I’m not the one who will be walking two noisy brats to school tomorrow, I’ll get to sleep in. If you didn’t have the wingman capability of a wet dishrag, I would’ve gone home with someone already.”

Indra closed his eyes and looked like he was reconsidering every one of his life choices, which Kakashi thought was unfair. “You just want to have the satisfaction of watching me puke because you’re irritated you lost your Anbu bet.”

“I never said which way I bet.”

“Bakakashi, I’m drunk and only mostly blind. You bet I’d be a weepy drunk and are disappointed I’m argumentative, because it punctures your whole ‘effortlessly cool’ attitude.”

Both men looked at one another, equally surprised at the nickname that had slipped out of Kakashi’s mouth. Kakashi was having many and varied memories assault his brain of the other dark-haired Uchiha who’d called him that, while Indra was kicking himself for bringing up the very sensitive subject of Obito Uchiha. The moment broke when a posse of equally drunk women barreled through the space between them and sent Indra stumbling back into the wall. The man shook his head and immediately turned green but swallowed heavily and rallied.

“Alright then, if you’re so concerned for my future wellbeing alongside your dick, let’s hit up one more bar and call it a night. How’s that sound Kakashi?”

“Works just fine for me,” said the Copy-Nin with only a little stiffness, “which bar did you want to close the night with anyway? Where are we headed?”

Indra felt the corners of his mouth twitch. “On a dangerous mission deep into hostile territory, you’ve got my back?”

For all the faux levity, Kakashi sensed the sincerity of the question. Indra trusted him, for some reason, and now Kakashi would offer that trust in return, no matter how tentatively. “Like a flak jacket.”

“Good, because we’re heading to Uproar.”

“You keep doing this thing Indra-san,” grumbled Kakashi, “where you know way more than you should and it’s creeping me out. When did I mention I was interested in men?”

“Just after that round of shots in bar number five, when you were needling me about what it was like to be married, twice. Plus, I was traveling the continent, not blind, deaf, and dumb. It’s a bar called Uproar for a reason.”

“A bar off the beaten path in the Leaf Village, a place you haven’t been in years.”

“It’s memorable.”

“When you said dangerous mission, you weren’t kidding. It’ll be like throwing sushi to a pack of sharks.”

“Now you’re exaggerating, Kakashi. The lighting is low enough I probably won’t be recognized.”

“You do know the Uchiha don’t exactly have the best reputation at Uproar.”

“Neither do ex-Anbu agents, so we’re in the same boat.”

“I can’t believe this.”

The corners of Indra’s mouth were definitely pointed up. “You can walk away at any time.”

“Those who abandon their comrades,” cited Kakashi solemnly, holding up one finger, “are worse than scum.” He hoped Obito wasn’t actually watching through his Sharingan from up in the Pure Lands, because he was pretty sure the boy would have died twice over from shame alone.

___________________________

Obito removed his mask and went through the wall, drifting intangibly like the ghost he was. The intelligence he’d rifled through in Anbu HQ earlier in the evening had a photo of Indra Uchia paperclipped to the man’s casefile, which already looked worn and dog-eared for its few months of existence. In a stroke of luck, they both had lost the same eye, so in a dark hallway, the brief moment of mistaken identity would give Obito enough time to seize control of any situation. Only problem was, he had no idea what the Clan Head house was like. Sure, the young Obito had walked past it several times, and had been scolded by Sayaka Uchiha and then Fugaku on several occasions, but he’d never been inside. For the Massacre, Itachi had insisted this was his task alone, so Obito had left the boy to his patricide. So he listened for the silence of the old wooden house to reveal its secrets to him.

The slight creak of wooden boards as Mongoose moved away down the corridor, mumbling something about the warmth of a stove or a koatsu. The distant noise of a television, the nearly imperceptible noise of an old house settling in the winter. The intermittent sounds of snoring. Obito nodded to himself as he confirmed the rough location of the current occupants. Walls were no obstacle for him, so it was best if he dealt with the Anbu first. Returning to the familiar dissociative feeling that accompanied his intangibility, the Uchiha moved soundlessly across the floor and through several walls, emerging in the corridor just behind Mongoose. The assassin made no sound and gave off no smell, but the sixth sense for danger all Anbu developed meant Mongoose sensed his assailant anyway.

The Inuzuka’s arm hair stood on end as he spun, claws lashing out at neck height and halting as he saw the glimmer of a single red Sharingan and short black hair. “Indra-san?” was all he got out before Obito’s hand passed into his chest and crushed the ninja’s heart inside his body.

One of his most efficient and least noticeable assassination techniques, leaving no external blood splatter and causing nearly instantaneous death to any target. The key word was “nearly”, because for Mongoose, that gave him several crucial seconds to fight back. The chill spreading through his body meant the Inuzuka was already dead, but as he opened his mouth to cry out, to warn the boys, to get them to run, a second hand reached up to crush his throat. Both of Mongoose’s hands came up to clench around Obito’s wrist even as the arm solidified to crush his windpipe. Obito’s eye widened as the man’s grip tightened on his arm and refused to let go, the classic “Dead Man’s grip”.

Mongoose’s eyes were rapidly losing life, but remained ferocious, the primal glare of a pack hunter defending the vulnerable. As Obito returned his second arm to intangibility and withdrew it, the Inuzuka’s hands flashed through several handsigns, turning as black as pitch. The Uchiha only had time to think, _that’s Kakuzu’s Earth Grudge technique,_ before hardened fists sliced through an arm that was suddenly very, very tangible. Both men stumbled back, Obito clutching his wrist as whitish fluid dripped down his artificial limb, and he quickly wrapped it in his cloak to ensure not a drop landed on the floor of the Uchiha hallway. Mongoose’s knees were weakening as the foreign object inside his chest cavity tangled with vital blood vessels and his knees hit the wooden planks with a _thump._ Obito swooped forward to suck the rest of the man into his Kamui and the corpse disappeared without a sound. He forced his breathing to slow and strained his hearing, but the house didn’t stir. That had been unexpected in the extreme, but even here, there was a lesson. If Kakuzu’s technique, or something similar could somehow penetrate his Kamui’s space-time, it was now a weakness he was aware of. Arrogance was dangerous, even for him. Orochimaru’s death had proven that in spades. And now the house was undefended.

The ghost of the Uchiha Clan kept moving, glancing into each room and finding evidence of life, but no occupants. A clean, regimentally ordered room that was doubtless Sasuke’s, a second bedroom absolutely covered with scrolls, stacks of instant ramen, an overflowing laundry hamper and several abandoned dishes. A kitchen that was a mixture of both, with piles of drying dishes and bowls, but with the remains of several pints of ice cream leaning against the garbage can. The flickering light and noise of the TV was very close now and Obito slowed still further as his eye scanned the room, glowing a soft red as it memorized the scene. Two children lay unconscious, mostly hidden under the warmth of a koatsu blanket. Black hair and pale skin meant the closest was obviously Sasuke Uchiha, so Obito took the time to study the boy. He appeared to be in good health, no obvious wounds, and though his face frowned in his sleep, he seemed less troubled than expected. Itachi would be pleased to receive this report, and Obito would be pleased to deliver it. One dark eye cracked open and a sleep-heavy voice drifted out.

“Uncle? How’d it go?”

Obito’s whorl-shaped scars were hidden by the backlight of the TV, so all Sasuke saw was a glowing red Sharingan and the familiar cloaked and one-armed silhouette of his uncle. The older Uchiha couldn’t wink, so he settled for a thumb’s up and drifted out of the boy’s line of sight, a genjutsu at the front of his mind in case the boy roused further. Sasuke’s eye closed again and a small smile passed across his face as he fell back asleep. The other body in the room shifted in its sleep as-

Obito’s world froze as he looked down at the blonde he’d threatened to kill ten years earlier. Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki. Minato’s son. The boy’s expression was pained in his sleep and both his hands absently rubbed at his stomach, partially revealed by his sprawl across several pillows. The Uchiha leaned closer and saw black ink spiral into existence, a seal of staggering complexity and strength.

_Kurama stalked back and forth within the sleeping mind of Naruto Uzumaki. He’d been glutted on more Uchiha nightmares and was taking some time to enjoy the feeling of freedom from that golden cage, however temporary, when someone had entered the room. Sasuke had opened his eyes, more asleep than awake, had seen his uncle move through the room and returned to slumber. But Kurama had seen that eye before, had felt the bottomless abyss of loathing that walked as a man. A soul now stained anew with the scent of kinslaying. “Madara” Uchiha._

**_He is here,_ ** _growled Kurama to himself. His one-time captor, who had ripped him from Kushina and enslaved him, set the power of the Nine-Tails upon the Leaf Village, was so close he could touch both Naruto and Sasuke. The Nine-Tails’ first instinct, of course, was to attack. Rouse the boys, cajole the Uzumaki brat to give him control, and fight the man off. Except even with his might, this was still a child’s body, with a child’s chakra pathways. Naruto had grown inside Kushina’s womb, mere inches away from the metaphysical space that held Kurama also, and the Fox’s chakra had marked the boy even before he was a jinchuriki. As weak he was now, Naruto would be able to bear far more of Kurama’s toxic chakra than any other living human. A full tail, perhaps. Two, if the Uzumaki didn’t mind dying in defense of his friend, which was always Kushina’s weakness as well. But it still wouldn’t be enough._

_Those damnable eyes, that cursed power of the Old Man’s first, arrogant son, would stop them. “Madara”, even if he was not the genuine article, was still mighty enough to bind them, kill them all, thanks to the Reaper Death Seal which bound his soul to the Uzumaki runt’s own. The Nine-Tailed Fox let out a snarl of frustration that caused Naruto’s stomach to burn slightly, though that could have just been all the junk food he’d eaten. Kurama, the Nine Burning Rages, the Cleansing Flames of the Kami, was a predator through and through, in form and function and might. For centuries, nothing and no-one on the continent had thought to challenge him, but now, he was trapped. Forced into the role of prey, and he hated it with a white-hot rage that made the Reaper Death Seal vibrate with the force of his anger and humiliation. Especially because the man in the room, who he could not see, but could absolutely feel, was wickedness incarnate. The Old Man had charged Kurama with eradicating and devouring the wickedness of Man, and here was one who embodied all that the Nine-Tails was charged to destroy._

_If he’d been younger, trapped for anything less than one hundred and ten years, Kurama might still have fought. His pride as a Tailed Beast would have demanded it. But he had been trapped for one hundred and ten years and had gained in patience what he’d lost in dignity. A fight against the same Uchiha who’d kidnapped him before would simply end in the same result, in defeat and perhaps an even worse imprisonment. The Nine-Tailed Fox reached out with his senses, feeling for the icy hatred, and held a breath he didn’t need to take._

__________________________

When they had started walking, Indra hadn’t intended to go to Uproar. He’d intended to circle back to Hozengo’s Grill, a quiet place suitable for a nightcap and several glasses of water. But Kakashi had been distracting and Indra found himself relaxing more and more. In his time, the master-pupil dynamic had long faded and Sasuke found himself slipping back into the easy familiarity with his old teacher who was somehow more open and relaxed than he’d been teaching a bunch of genin in peacetime. Whatever Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had gotten up to in the months he’d been out of commission or weeks hunting Orochimaru, it must’ve been miraculous. And so, he’d taken a risk, going to Uproar. He was sure Kakashi had instructions to try and gain more info on the inscrutable Indra Uchiha, but the Yamanaka Mind Sublimation jutsu would hold even against deep intoxication. Besides, he hadn’t told the last Hatake anything even approaching mission-critical. Good-naturedly complaining about how his ex-wife had destroyed three separate walls in fits of anger had brought a rare laugh out of Kakashi, who had admitted that the mysterious Uzumaki shared a great deal in common with Kushina. Indra idly wondered where the Sakura of his time had ended up. While her silence and absence from Konoha was somewhat unnerving, he knew the kunoichi could take care of herself. She would have wanted him to have fun, had encouraged it, in fact. Admittedly, Uproar wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind back then either.

Uproar was three streets away from Naruto’s old apartment and was fairly typical of the Red Lamp District. A sign and a grafitti-covered stairway led into a basement crowded with shinobi holding drinks and dim purple lighting. It was the oldest, raunchiest, and most historic gay bar in Konoha. Uproar had been dug out and built as a residential basement during the time of the First Hokage but had swiftly been repurposed by Goren Shimura and Tsuinko Hyuga by the time the Second took the hat. Tsuinko had been using the Byakugan to both scan customers and keep an eye out for the Konoha Police Force while Shimura had connected the bar to the deep network of tunnels and passageways underneath Konoha he’d designed himself, just in case the occupants needed to make a quick getaway. They didn’t even have a formal liquor license.

The bar existed quietly for a few years, without a name, with little incident besides a few quiet, laughing disappearances when an Uchiha with a Police Force patch came knocking. Then the Second Hokage got wind of it. No one knew how, but he sent in an Anbu force to discreetly take names and ranks, resulting in an uproar that led to the death of one of the Anbu and put nearly a fifth of the active-duty Leaf ninja in the hospital after either participating in or attempting to suppress the riot. To this day, the experienced bartenders glowered at anyone with an Anbu tattoo on their shoulder the first six months they showed up there. Even the sign had been a recent, careful addition.

As a result of long familiarity with events that had helped give Uproar its name, there was a strict no-weapons policy, with full-body checks at the door. Indra passed over his cloak and purple scarf, and a brief scan by the bouncer’s Byakugan showed he was clean. Kakashi, on the other hand, had to relinquish not just the contents of his flak jacket, but two hidden kunai and a roll of razor wire, which he submitted to with a great deal of grumbling in Indra’s direction. “You know, Indra-san, if you wanted to sleep with me, you could’ve just asked.”

The Uchiha’s glare was so strong a potted plant in the corner wilted. “Not in a million years, Hatake. You’re an even worse disaster than my husband, but against my better judgement, I’ll try to set you up with a date anyway. Everything after that is on you.”

Kakashi caught the bartender’s eye and made a complicated series of hand gestures which Indra didn’t bother to watch. “You realize all your dark clothing will have you blend into the background entirely, right? Not very good wingman behavior.”

“Well, I know a little thing or two about lurking,” piped up a familiar baritone. “The key is to look suave, really gets the ladies interested. Gets them to come to you.” Jirayia twitched his thick white eyebrows suggestively and made a curling motion with his two middle fingers. Kakashi shrank into the crowd around the bar while Indra folded his arms, his own forehead creased with disapproval. He didn’t know it, but in that moment, his expression was a mirror image of Fugaku Uchiha’s. “Not really my thing. Just as this bar isn’t really your thing, Jirayia-san.”

The big man snorted and tossed back a shot of something bright blue, throwing his hair over his shoulder. “Well, I figured it was about time I catch up on the Leaf Village’s local nightlife, what can I say? It certainly has its perks.” A hand dipped down towards a dancing woman’s rear, but never reached its target. Indra no longer had his Instant Transmission technique, Amenotejikara, but he was still much faster than an ordinary shinobi. A pulse of Lightning chakra through his system closed the distance and his hand closed around Jirayia’s wrist in a potentially bone-crushing grip. At the door, the Hyuga bouncer’s head turned their way.

“This isn’t the time or place for that,” said Sasuke in a light tone that was equal parts warning and friendly advice. “I would have thought a Sage understood common respect, but so far, you’ve disappointed me.” The girl shot him a grateful look and moved deeper into the crowd, away from them. “If she’s here, she’s not interested in you.”

Kakashi wandered back with two drinks, one of which sported a large green curly straw. “Now, Indra-san have you heard of the Bendy Seduction Techni-What’s going on here?”

“A disappointing godfather,” said Indra shortly as he released Jirayia’s wrist, and he was satisfied to see the white-haired man shoot a surprised glance at Kakashi. The man handed Indra his drink to cover his returning shrug of equal bewilderment. Both turned back to Indra, whose mood had returned to cautiously sanguine as the mulled wine burned through him. “So, Master Jirayia, I’m assuming you sought us out for a reason?”

The man nodded and shifted to stand next to them along the wall, his eyes following the flow of the crowd as the bouncer turned away from them. Though his face retained a jovial smile, and his body was relaxed, something about the Toad Sage had shifted. Now he wasn’t just Naruto’s dearly loved Pervy Sage, but Konoha’s Spymaster. “I must say, you’re a lot like your father, Indra Uchiha. Stiff, difficult to joke with, but loyal to Konoha.”

“Loyal to Konoha’s people,” said Indra. “Konoha itself in an idea. One that has failed to protect my clan. Keep that in mind, Spymaster.”

“Oh, believe me, I am,” grumbled Jirayia. “Still, our mutual friends in high places wanted me to ask you about this.” He dug in an inner pocket and produced a small silver ring, made for fingers far smaller than his own. But when the Sage made to slide it onto his finger, the metal seemed to subtly expand until it could comfortably fit his wide-knuckled digits. Kakashi whistled. “Now that’s a nifty bit of jutsu work, where’d you get that done? The Land of Lightning?”

Jirayia shook his head, “somewhere considerably further away.” He showed the face of it to Indra and Kakashi, and it glimmered as it reflected the multicolored lights all around them. A slate blue gemstone engraved with the kanji for “sky”. “Recognize it?”

Kakashi sucked noisily on his bendy straw, which meant no, but something was tickling the back of Indra’s mind. Rings, rings… _A blonde man with mouths in his hands scattering clay spiders from above as the sunlight glinted off the shine of a silver ring. A blood-stained hand reaching for Sasuke’s forehead as a ring slipped off to clatter into the rocks around them. Dark men around a stone table, three of whom sported lone rings on different fingers._ Indra motioned for it and the Toad Sage handed the trinket over. “Maybe,” he admitted. “Is this about that group our friends upstairs are so concerned about?”

“Yes, we found it among my old teammate’s belongings, cleaning out his apartment the other day.” Jirayia gave another one of his boisterous laughs. “He always was a hoarder, so much stuff in there it took us ages to sort through it all.”

“And this ring is significant because?”

Jirayia reached over to steal Indra’s drink and his hand moved through six handsigns around the cup as he withdrew and pretended to fumble the cup. “Ah, sorry, sorry about that. Getting old usually means clumsy fingers. Just as long as they’re more experienced.” He winked at Indra as the pulsing beats around them lessened slightly and the shouted conversations around them faded into background murmurs. “Muffling and anti-surveillance wind jutsu, we have ten minutes to speak freely then I’ll let you get back to…whatever it was you were doing.”

“Won’t people notice they can’t hear us?”

“I prepared a little something in advance. Everyone outside this jutsu will just hear us talking about how difficult it is to move apartments.” Indra was reluctantly impressed as Jirayia took the ring back. “Like I said, this is Orochimaru’s trinket, and as I’m sure you noticed when you killed him, he didn’t really go for rings. No, the original owner of this ring was the Sage of Six Paths.”

Kakashi’s supposed Bendy Seduction Technique turned into a hacking cough as alcohol went down the wrong pipe. “You’re joking,” he gasped, pounding at his chest while the others looked on. “The Sage of Six Paths is just a legend to explain the origin of chakra. Right up there with stories of monsters in the dark or beneath the sea.”

Indra just locked his gaze on Jirayia’s face. “How many rings are there, and what do they do?”

The Toad Sage looked grim. “This is all hearsay, understand. I got this story from my own Master, the Great Toad Elder of Mount Myoboku, decades ago. Never put any stock in it until today when Sarutobi showed me this. Not exactly the latest literature from Kinchan University.”

“Just get to the point,” snapped Indra. The alcohol was making him more impatient than he normally would be, and he couldn’t decide if Jirayia had planned his arrival to goad him for just this reaction. But the white-haired man didn’t visibly react.

“Long ago, the Sage sought to spread his teachings of ninjutsu, alongside ones of love and understanding across the world. But he was only one man, so he fostered disciples. Rich, poor, young, old, men, women, didn’t matter. Not that rich and poor was much of a distinction in those days. The Sage’s nine best disciples were sent out into the world to preach and to teach the world how to safely utilize chakra. To keep tabs on them across this vast continent, the Sage created nine rings that would ensure their safety, and a master ring for himself. The disciple’s rings were named for each of the meditative poses key to reaching enlightenment and served as spiritual guideposts for their bearers. We tested this one and it set off a sealing barrier that trapped Danzō in his office for half the day.”

Indra snickered, only to fall silent at the thunderous look on Jirayia’s face. “This is no laughing matter Uchiha! Blood of the Gods, don’t you realize what these can do?”

“Enlighten us, then.”

“These rings make it easier to seal the Tailed Beasts. It’s how the Akatsuki wants to keep track of their members running around the continent doing who knows what. They’re seeking these rings out as we speak!”

Indra had never sobered up so quickly in his life and fought to keep his expression disinterested. “How many do they have now? Can you guess where any of them are now?”

“If I knew that, I’d be out there hunting the damned baubles, not sitting in a basement with you idiots.”

“Hey!” piped up Kakashi, attempting to lighten the mood. “That’s hurtful.”

“Look, Uchiha-san. You seem to make a habit of knowing things you really shouldn’t, so if you have even an inkling of where they might be, spit it out.”

Indra was silent as he thought back to his extensive research on the Otsutsuki ruins after the War. Compared to the archeologists, he was an enthusiastic amateur with some flashy jutsu. Still, if this was the “All Hands on Deck” situation Jirayia made it sound like, it could also be a huge boon. In his first life, no one had really thought about how several S-Class ninja had managed to seal seven tailed beasts inside a questionably-sentient corpse. Given the number of ridiculously insane things that occurred in the Fourth Great Ninja War, that was small potatoes. But now there was a chance. Find enough of the rings before the Akatsuki, and that would make the Tailed Beast sealings riskier. Perhaps it would take longer, perhaps they would fail, perhaps the Akatsuki members would be eaten alive by the statue instead of the jinchuriki. That last one was probably just wishful thinking. There were so many other ways this could go wrong, but if the villages gathered enough of the rings, kept them out of the Akatsuki’s hands, they could shut down a majority of Obito’s mad plan without a single kunai thrown in anger. At least initially, because Obito wasn’t going to take that lying down. The man had the craftiness of Danzō and twice the bastardry. Indra blinked. “You have something I can write with?”

Jirayia produced a pencil and Kakashi offered the crumpled drink receipt from his pocket. Good enough. The Uchiha scribbled out a list of six names all across the Elemental Nations, great and small. “Here’s a few archeologists to start with. Get some of your people into the area and tell them to run if a hint of red clouds show up. We both need the scholars alive, but the Akatsuki would kill them just to deny us the source of information.”

“Appreciate the help, Uchiha-san,” said the Toad Sage as he pushed away from the wall. “Anything else you’ve got before I drop this muffling jutsu?”

Indra thought about following his Naruto out into the forests of Konoha, standing behind him as the man laid out a few offerings. A bouquet of flowers, a cup of sake, salted cod. A grave denoted with ninja wire and kunai, surrounding a single stone plinth, carved with care for all its amateurish style. He thought about late night conversations illuminated only by the light above the kitchen table as he’d listened blearily. Jirayia might not have been someone he personally liked, but perhaps Naruto would. Indra had already stolen a father-figure position from Umino Iruka, he couldn’t begrudge Jirayia his allotted spot in Naruto’s heart. If the man wanted it.

“I’m afraid I must’ve given you a bad impression tonight, Jirayia-san,” he replied. “If you ever want to visit Naruto, or to join us for dinner, the Uchiha District will be open to you.”

The Toad Sage’s face did a complicated dance between guilt, regret, and hopefulness that Indra recognized. He’d seen it on his own face in the evenings often enough, wishing things would turn out better this time.

“Well, that is a mighty tempting offer, Indra Uchiha. I’ll have to think on that.” Jirayia of the Sannin raised a hand in farewell and moved off into the crowd as the sound of the club came roaring back in at full volume. Indra and Kakashi both winced, looked at one another, then at Indra’s empty hand. By unspoken agreement, they went back for more drinks.

Indra noticed the Toad Sage had never actually accepted the offer.

___________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a day late, it's certainly not a dollar short. I've run out of backlogged chapters, so everything you see from now on will likely have been written within the last 72 hours. Hopefully there won't be too many typos, I do try my best to excise those. Typos shame me as a writer.
> 
> I realized as I was writing up an explanation for the Akatsuki rings that I'd simply reinvented Lord of the Rings again, which is not what I intended. Whatever. Now we have a side quest that will explain the three year time-skip I'll need to take to get a certain trio to genin age and what the heck the Akatsuki was doing all those years. Turns out you can't really capture tailed beasts with plans scribbled on the back of a napkin. Pretty volatile process, Biju Sealing.  
> Also annoyed that so much of my humor seems to rely on "hahaha alcoholism", but I've been around plenty of soldiers. Soldiers drink a lot when off duty, they talk about drinking when off duty, and then just get drunk. I do like the idea that Sasuke's an argumentative drunk because all the little comments he just wouldn't say normally come spilling out. Naruto moves from happy drunk to sad drunk depending on how many beers he's had and if he's alone with trusted friends. (Because they boy never really dealt with all his trauma, he just "accepted" years of fear and isolation at the Waterfall of Truth. Not a healthy coping mechanism, IMO.  
> Also, something of a cliffhanger, but don't worry, I know where I'm going with this. Enjoy!


	35. Much Ado About Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi gets busy, Indra returns home, and Danzō turns defeat into victory

“What about that guy at 2:15, with the gem earring?” Indra sipped his drink and watched a thoroughly inebriated Kakashi study the subject of their conversation across the bar. After Jirayia had left, both ninja had realized there was nothing to be done at that moment and had decided to make the most of the evening that remained to them. So both elite ninja were well on their way to getting plastered and playing “Hot or Not”. Kakashi made a noncommittal noise through his mask and toyed with his straw.

“He’s got a nice jawline, but look, a lip piercing.”

“That a dealbreaker?”

“Not really, I just don’t like the idea of it catching on my mouth, personally.”

“That sounds like a deal-breaker, Kakashi. Your turn.”

“The chunin four seats to his left, with the beer foam mustache.”

“The guy who guards the Konoha gates? Am I judging him with or without the mustache?”

Kakashi took a long, noisy sip of his cocktail. “Whichever way most informs your decision.”

Indra considered the man who had turned and was making short, excited gestures with one hand to the very embarrassed and awkward-looking man next to him, who looked kind of familiar. “Without the mustache, he’s fairly average-looking, but it gives him a goofy charm.”

His companion chuckled. “A smooth-talker like you goes for the goofy ones? Not what I would have expected.”

Indra thought about his Naruto, sitting at a dinner table with him and watching the man drape noodles across his face in his haste to devour the meal as Boruto and Sarada shared a long-suffering look between them. Sasuke’s face had been plastered with the kind of soft smile only Naruto could draw out of him with regularity, because his husband was an absolute idiot.

“Yes,” he said softly. “It’s a critical weakness.”

Kakashi realized Indra was inside his own head and waited patiently for the Uchiha to pull out of whatever memory he was engrossed in. As he waited the Copy-nin’s eye was drawn to the man next in line at the bar and nearly choked on his drink. The sound of muffled sputtering behind a mask drew Indra back to the present and he raised one eyebrow as Kakashi elbowed him in the side. “What?”

“Does that chunin next to Foam Mustache look familiar to you?”

It took am impressive amount of effort for Indra to keep a straight face as he answered. “That’s Naruto’s teacher!”

Umino Iruka wanted to sink into the floor and dearly wished he knew that sort of Earth Jutsu. Izumo and Kotetsu were celebrating their second anniversary and, for reasons unknown to a more sensible shinobi, had decided Iruka needed to get out of his shell. So, they dragged him to Uproar, a bar that was the absolute opposite of a bookish administrative chunin in his mid-twenties. Iruka’s idea of a good time was a night inside with a good adventure story, not a crowded, slightly smelly bar full of inebriated shinobi and friends who seemed determined to send him home with someone. Iruka sighed into his beer and drank as Kotetsu grinned at his partner. The chunin teacher knew they meant well, because he’d been avoiding the dating scene for some time, wrapping himself in lesson plans and jutsu scrolls, and he really did need to put himself out there, just…

His train of thought stuttered to a halt as he saw who was on the other side of the bar, deep in conversation. Sasuke’s uncle, the famously mysterious Indra Uchiha. And next to him was Hatake Kakashi, the ninja who’d been voted Most Attractive Jonin in Konoha last month. He’d met Indra twice, not counting the man’s arrival by falling into a sandbox, and he’d been succinct, respectful, and curious about Iruka’s lesson plans. By contrast, the two times Kakashi’s grey mop of hair had shown up to drag Indra’s semi-adopted children away from the training yards, he’d been talkative and effortlessly suave. Iruka was a little regretful that both men seemed to have taken over his infrequent role as Naruto’s parental substitute, because Iruka really had wanted to befriend the boy further. Even with all his pranks and outbursts, the blonde still always had a smile on his face. He was a good kid, and Iruka wished he could have done more than a box of medical supplies and a few trips to Ichiraku’s.

“So, anyone catch your eye?” said Kotetsu as the man wiggled his eyebrows at the third wheel of this evening. “You’ve been pretty quiet.”

Iruka hitched his mouth up into an unconvincing smile. “Just spotted Hatake Kakashi at eleven-fifteen with a curly straw.”

“Want us to go make introductions? I’m sure we’ve got enough gossip about him to fill you in on some great rumors.”

Iruka’s stare was flat and unimpressed. “He’s a jonin who’s obviously ex-Anbu, you two guard the front gate, and I’m a teacher. None of us run in the same circles. Sure he’s hot, but what could we possibly have in common?” Kotetsu swallowed and tapped Iruka’s shoulder as the chunin tossed back the dregs of his drink. “Listen, thanks for bringing me out and for covering my drink, but I think I’m going to head out. You two have fun, it’s your anniversary.”

“Um, Iruka?”

He turned, prepared to ignore whatever feeble protest Kotetsu had and head for the door, only to find a masked ninja hovering behind him, hands deep in his pockets. Indra not-so-subtly pushed Kakashi forward and Iruka’s mind snapped to the rote teacher’s greeting he’d performed dozens of times. His hand came up and eyes met Kakashi’s cyclops gaze. At least the Copy Ninja looked just as nervous as he did. “Hatake-san, it’s nice to meet you. Again. I don’t think we had much time to speak before. Indra-san, likewise, it’s a pleasure.”

Indra nodded a silent greeting as Kakashi shook the teacher’s hand. “So, what brings Konoha’s best teacher out to a place like this? I’m impressed, I didn’t think Uproar was really your style.”

Iruka flushed and the compliment and kept shaking Kakashi’s hand because he had nothing better to do. “Really, it’s not, I just came out to celebrate my friend’s anniversary. Do you come here often Kakashi? It’s certainly…” His mind flailed as he tried to find a balance between accurately describing the bar and not insulting the very attractive jonin in front of him. “Unique.”

Indra was smirking now and looked over at Kotetsu as a silent understanding passed between them. “Congratulations, then. How long have you been together?” Kotetsu leaned back on the bar, affecting nonchalance. “Oh, Izumo and I have been going steady two years now, let me introduce you.” Both men grabbed Izumo and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Iruka and Kakashi adrift. The Copy-Nin looked down at their hands still moving up and down in a robotic handshake. “You can let go of my hand now.”

Iruka’s grip disengaged so quickly it looked like he’d tripped an exploding tag. “Sorry, sorry!”

Kakashi let out a brief chuckle, more a bark of amusement, and Iruka hoped this was a good sign. “Unique is one of the more flattering words I’ve heard used to describe this place, glad to hear it’s made a good impression on you.”

“So have you,” said Iruka, from a lack of anything else to say. One visible eyebrow raised on the jonin’s face. “Oh, and why’s that? You mentioned we haven’t spoken much.”

Iruka moved back and sat back on his stool as Kakashi leaned against the bar. “Well, back when Indra-san fell out of the sky and scared everyone half-to-death, you got Naruto to safety, which was kind of you. Even if you were just a passing Anbu, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Well, you had the situation mostly under control,” lied Kakashi, only for Iruka to laugh in response. “It was chaos, and you know it. Still, while Indra-san was in the hospital, I kept hearing Naruto and Sasuke mention your name when they thought I couldn’t hear them. Soon enough, they roped in the Haruno girl and then things got interesting.”

“Interesting how?”

Iruka laughed again and reached for his drink, only to remember it was empty. Kakashi signaled the bartender and Iruka protested. “Kakashi, you don’t need to buy me a drink.”

“Nonsense, I’m not buying you a drink, I’m buying the rest of this story. Keep going, how did Sakura make this Naruto-Sasuke thing more interesting?”

“Well, for one, she managed to drag them into the library, actually had Naruto reading books in his spare time. Then, whatever they were researching about Konoha had them talking about you every third word. First it was just ‘what would Kakashi-sensei say about this?’, then it turned into ‘Look at this trick Kakashi-sensei showed me!’ and ‘Kakashi-sensei did it like this’.” The bartender handed Iruka a full glass and the teacher paused to appreciate the flavor of the beer. “So, however you got mixed up in this, it sure seems like those three have picked their jonin-sensei already.”

Kakashi’s heart twisted slightly in his chest and he took refuge in his own drink to avoid the question for a few precious seconds. “Well, I don’t know about that, but it’s very kind of you to say, Iruka-san. At first, it was just a standard bodyguard mission, but they just kept asking the right kind of questions. Next thing I knew, I was teaching them kata forms in the Uchiha dojo and they were trying to beat me to death with sticks. Very unfair, really.”

Iruka smiled at Kakashi over the rim of his glass. “They do worm their way into your heart, don’t they?”

“I’ll drink to that.”

Their glasses clinked against one another and both men took a moment to study the other. The additional drink had lowered some of Iruka’s barriers, made him more relaxed as the conversation moved into a discussion of teaching styles. In a bizarre subversion, Iruka found he actually had better advice for Kakashi and the man accepted it with sincere thanks. He’d expected an experienced, suave jonin to dominate the conversation, had resigned himself to it, only to find the Copy-Nin was exceeding his expectations. It was common for higher-level jonin, especially Anbu, to look down on the chunin who took less active-duty positions, but Kakashi just let him talk. He even complimented Iruka several more times on his methods, about how Naruto and Sakura had spoken of him as an excellent teacher, praising his simple explanations and advanced genjutsu techniques, respectively. Every time, Iruka blushed less and less as the compliments became less obvious praise and simply a part of the conversation’s flow. Soon enough, another hour had passed in the blink of an eye and Uproar was getting closer to its namesake. The music got louder, as did the conversations until Iruka had enough and jerked his head in the direction of the door. “Let’s get out of here, I can barely hear you, and lip-reading won’t work.”

Kakashi blinked in surprise but nodded as they left a few bills underneath their empty glasses and slipped through the crowd. The coat check delayed them somewhat because while Iruka simply had to shrug back into a mostly-empty flak jacket, Kakashi had to store and hide all the ninja tools he normally had somewhere on his person. While the grey-haired man was slipping a kunai into his boot, Iruka’s eyes roved over the crowd and found Kotetsu and Izuno in a corner, busy devouring each other’s faces. They wouldn’t notice if he left. Indra’s dark form was nowhere to be seen. Soon enough, both men found themselves outside in the brisk night air and Iruka was suddenly very glad for the thermal properties of the flax jacket, as well as the long blue sleeves on his arms. He shivered as a gust of wind moved through the street and leaned against the doorway of a nearby building for what meagre protection it offered. Kakashi coped him, still somehow managing to be nonchalant though the man had to be just as cold. He looked up at the streetlight and the full moon above it, hanging in the sky. “It’s a nice night,” he offered, lamely as Kakashi’s mask creased in a smile. “Yes, it has been Iruka-san. Your advice was very helpful, and I’m glad you came out.” The grey-haired man gave Iruka an appreciative look and the chunin felt the moment slow down as the distance between them closed. He wasn’t sure if Kakashi was leaning closer or if he was. Maybe both.

Either way, he felt masked lips brush against his cheek, just below his ear as hands moved onto his shoulders. “This is good right?” purred a voice that was suddenly perfectly audible. “Think you still need to read my lips now?”

Iruka felt a waterfall of sweat start to pour down his back as he realized the direction this night was heading and found his voice. “Um, Kakashi?”

Was his voice really that high-pitched and nervous? Oh Sage, he felt like a teenager. The Copy-Nin drew back and Iruka could see that even through the mask he looked guilty. “Apologies, Iruka-san, if I misread your-“

“N-no, it’s quite alright,” Iruka stammered as he produced a scrap of paper and a pen from his jacket as he searched for the right way to phrase this. “Perhaps, just-“ He abandoned two sentences as he scribbled his phone number and shoved the paper into Kakashi’s face. “Maybe some other time?”

The silence stretched for an eternity before Kakashi let out a short breath and tucked the scrap into his own jacket, buttoning the pouch securely to ensure it wouldn’t escape. “Sure thing. No hard feelings, right?”

“None at all!” squeaked Iruka as something resembling a smile moved onto his face. “So, see you later, then?”

Kakashi winked and waved a hand in farewell. “See you.”

Iruka’s shunshin was textbook-perfect as he vanished, moving in the direction of the residential district with his heart in his throat. He wasn’t sure if he was happy or mortified, but tonight hadn’t turned out he way he’d expected at all. Much better than he’d hoped, for sure.

Kakashi stood there alone in the doorway of a deserted street for a few minutes, shoving all of those annoying feelings and desires into a little box in the back of his brain they’d escaped from with the help of a great many drinks. Gods, he needed to piss. He walked a few feet and found a convenient alley used by generations of drunk shinobi before him as he emptied his bladder into a corner.

“Classy moves Kakashi.”

He didn’t even turn around as Indra’s voice floated down from the roof above him. “You’re the one who ditched me in favor of those two lovebirds, after proposing we go to Uproar in the first place. You already jerk them off on the roof or something?”

He could hear Indra roll his single eye, somehow in that pointed silence. “I’m married, Kakashi.”

“And how’s that working out for you?” retorted the Copy-Nin as he zipped up his pants and flipped through the signs for a water jutsu.

“Fuck you, Kakashi,” said Indra, in a voice that was fonder than recriminating. “I’m heading home.”

“I’m coming with,” protested his companion. “I’ll send Mongoose on his way, wanted to thank him for babysitting.”

“Hmm.”

“We all know that’s what it was.”

Kakshi stepped back out into the street, shaking water from his fingers, as Indra jumped down to walk alongside him. In a dark blue cloak, at this time of night, he was nearly invisible but for the stark contrast of his face emerging from the gloom. They walked in silence for a few minutes in the direction of the Uchiha estate until Kakashi broke it with a sigh as he lost the battle of wills.

“So, this is a problem.”

“What?”

“Iruka gave me his number tonight,” admitted Kakashi as he stuffed his hands into his pockets once more.

“That’s good news.”

“No, it’s not, I don’t own a phone.”

Indra stared. “How do you not own a phone?” A miniature Naruto and Sakura inside his head began screeching at him that this was unbelievably hypocritical, considering he’d wandered the Elemental Nations for decades with only a messenger hawk as a contact point. Combined with his reluctance to use Scientific Ninja Tools or an artificial limb, he was practically a technophobe. Honestly, if they loved him only half as much-

Kakashi shrugged, oblivious to the rant Indra endured inside his own head. “Who the hell would call me? Most either drop in or I’m on a mission anyways. Plus the ringing would upset the dogs.”

Indra slung his arm around Kakashi’s shoulders and the two ninja stumbled their way towards the red tori gate that marked the entrance to the Uchiha District. “Gods, no wonder you’ve been single so long.”

The Sakura in Indra’s head muttered something about how getting Kakashi-sensei therapy was harder than pulling teeth from Akamaru.

__________________________________________

A ghost with one eye stood before Naruto Uzumaki, torn between greed, fear, and sudden uncertainty. The boy was vulnerable and could be easily taken. The Anbu guard was dead, the mysterious Indra Uchiha absent, there could be no better moment to take the troublesome Nine-Tails.

Obito’s hand moved closer to Naruto Uzumaki’s sleeping form before his conscious mind thought better of it and Obito withdrew to the doorway. Sure, he could kidnap Naruto now, could trap his master’s son inside the Kamui dimension until the Akatsuki had all the rings to safely remove the Nine-Tails. But they hadn’t found all the rings, it could take years. Was Obito willing to keep a child alive until then? Most of him rebelled against the idea, a large majority really.

But there was a very small part. A very small part that had nothing to do with seals on his heart, or the Curse of Hatred, or traumatizing events. A very small part of Obito Uchiha who remembered what it was like to be a young boy alone in the world, trying very hard to be cheerful and kind, because no one else was. That part thought that even if Obito might not be good for Minato’s son, perhaps Minato’s son might be good for Obito.

His hand was trembling, so he clenched it into a fist and grimaced at his own indecision. He’d confirmed the location and presence of the Nine-Tails jinchuriki within the Leaf Village, he’d rifled through the Anbu’s most recent intelligence, and he’d confirmed Sasuke’s relative good health as a favor for Itachi. All that was left was to find out more about Indra Uchiha. Obito moved back through the house, forcing his mind back into the cold, calculating espionage and assassination professional the Akatsuki had required for years. Dreams were useless and hope was only the precursor to disappointment. Rin and Kakashi had proved it beyond any doubt. The Plan was everything, after all. He had nothing else.

The Akatsuki’s ghost struck gold when he entered the main bedroom and allowed himself a small Uchiha grin, which was more the suggestion of a smile than a real one. His scarring stretched the expression into something terrifying, which was part of the reason he’d kept to masks so often. On the surface, an ordinary bedroom, with a bed, nightstands, and a lamp to one side. But if a man’s home was his castle, the bedroom was where his inner self was laid bare. Even Danzō, for all his paranoia, had a few personal touches to his lonely, single-bed room. Obito went through Indra’s drawers quickly and dispassionately. A large number of dark cloaks, a collection of eyepatches, a selection of medical supplies in the top drawer. A bottle of whiskey, unopened, lay hidden underneath a pile of combat pants. Obito ran a finger across the drawer and the light of the moon showed a coating of dust on his finger. Indra Uchiha had purchased this bottle, but kept it in his bedroom, away from the liquor cabinet, for surreptitious use. The medical supplies in the top drawer suggested a disinfectant usage, but the possibility of alcoholism was equally present. Uchiha were genetically prone to such a weakness, after all. Alternatively, it could be a coping mechanism. _What are you trying to forget, I wonder?_

The bed proved to have even more to say. A standard Anbu short sword was taped to the underside of the frame, within easy reach of Indra’s arm, while a kunai was stuffed under each side of the mattress. But it was the small collection of parenting books that made Obito’s eye gleam with dark promise. Coupled with the presence of the boys outside, it was abundantly clear Indra’s heart lay with the children, and Danzō’s file had indicated an unknown past relationship with an Uzumaki. Did Indra perhaps not know the power of the boy under his roof? Sarutobi had a habit of playing his cards close to his withered chest, while Danzō was more assertive. The head of Root had been spotted in the battle against Orochimaru, alongside Indra, so perhaps there was already a working relationship for Obito to undermine. With Danzō, familiarity tended to breed contempt.

Obito moved to the window and flicked through the books by the moon’s light, glowing red eye memorizing each scribbled note, each scrap of Indra’s knowledge.

_Divorce fallout._

_When to disclose the Curse of Hatred?_

_Emotional regulation techniques._

_Preparing them for the truth. (When, when, when?)_

_Teen dating: why it’s important for emotional development (Sarada stories)_

_The importance of love. (Note to self, read Itachi the riot act)_

_Shinobi communication styles: Adapting to cross-cultural attitudes_

_How to maintain old ties while forming new familial bonds? (See Kakashi tree convo. Corollary: Given outcome, not the best example, perhaps. Inoichi?)_

_Lure of power: The Vergil Conundrum._

The empty back pages were blank at first, but in a book where even the margin’s margins had notes, such a blank canvas was suspicious. Obito’s regular Sharingan saw nothing, but on a whim, he pushed it into the Mangekyo and black ink spiraled into existence, written in cramped, slightly wobbly penmanship. The Uchiha’s mouth fell open. Somehow, Indra had managed to duplicate the same technique used on the Uchiha Stone Tablet, which meant he knew of its existence. It made sense if he was truly the clan’s Bloodline Guardian, but it begged the question: What else did he know? Did he know about “Madara”?

Obito swallowed heavily as he considered the distinct possibility and forced himself to focus on the text.

_46 years until the invasion, but still so many unanswered questions. Did the Ten-Tails’s energy summon them? Was it Kaguya’s? The Infinite Tsukuyomi? Unknown. For now, assume invasion inevitable, but halt Akatsuki plans as early as possible._

Obito had to stop himself from throwing the book across the room. He knew. Somehow, Indra Uchiha knew their plan and from the sound of it, had known for some time. Not just the idea of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but the intricacies of the Ten Tails’ existence, which had passed into myth and legend altogether. The mad Uchiha searched under the bed again, fingers pressing for any loose floorboards, then back to the dressers for false drawer bottoms, but there was nothing. However Indra Uchiha had learned about the Akatsuki’s goals, he’d hidden his sources well. Obito absently noted his grip had tightened so much he was beginning to crack the spine of the book and swiftly eased up as he returned to reading. He had to know more. He had to regain the advantage.

_Hagoromo’s disappearance bodes ill, especially with the signs my assailant was in Orochimaru’s hands for some time. Celestial Maggots open possibility for further manipulation of Otsutsuki genetics, I can only thank Amaterasu that Tsunadae Senju’s medical advancements stalled with her departure from the Leaf Village. Pursuer death a priority, especially now the danger of reanimation has lessened thanks to our campaign. Multi-nation kill squad ideal, but unlikely._

_Konoha ninja suitable: Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, ~~Hatake Kakashi~~ , Jirayia the Sage, Uchiha Itachi, Yamato of the Wood Style, every Anbu and Root agent capable of casting A & S-rank ninjutsu. Additional sealing masters ideal, but unlikely. Hatake Kakashi._

Obito stared in confusion. If the first paragraph had made entirely too much sense, this second one made too little. The name Hagoromo sounded familiar, but Obito couldn’t place when he’d heard it. He’d heard of the Celestial Maggots, of course, nearly every ninja in the minor nations had by now. The Lords of the Land of Grass and Rice Paddies had instituted a bounty system for the number of heart-organs a ninja could bring in, as the bodies swiftly dissolved in their own acid. He’d separately sent Kakuzu and several White Zetsus to acquire a few, of course. A newly created ninja creature, especially one from Orochimaru’s laboratories was of great interest indeed, but the Zetsus hadn’t reported in yet. Kakuzu probably was seeking out a nest, to maximize his bounty. Obito had considered the pests a marginal asset at best, but Indra’s note connected the things to his mysterious assailant. The one who’d pincushioned an Uchiha with a Mangekyo Sharingan. Now, there was someone Obito wanted to recruit. But Indra hadn’t provided a description or a name. Frustrating, but Obito had done more with less information. Now he knew the man existed, which meant he could be found. A man apparently so dangerous, Indra’s proposed kill squad consisted entirely of Anbu-rank ninja or above, including the Third Hokage. The desire for seal masters suggested a powerful opponent indeed, but the exclusion, then reintroduction of Obito’s only surviving squadmate meant something.

The cloaked Uchiha sat back on the bedspread as he thought. Kakashi… Possibly Indra’s close comrade, possibly something more. Obito’s face twisted into something hateful. He didn’t want Kakashi to move on, he wanted the man to remember what he’d done, the crimes he’d committed. The deaths of both of his teammates. Because Obito Uchiha was assuredly dead, and the man sitting inside the Uchiha estate was just a ghost.

He couldn’t, wouldn’t be anything else. Not when the Plan could save the world from its own mistakes. Not when he could change everything for the better. What did loneliness matter?

“Madara” returned to the book. Something about this house, this situation, had shoved him off his axis. And Indra wasn’t even home. He needed more information, but the page had nothing more to offer, only a large blank space for future entries.

Wait.

Not quite empty. A small scribble at the bottom of the page.

_I miss them._

~~Obito felt something begin to bubble up from within him and he crushed it before he could even tell what it was. Doubtless another form of weakness.~~

Obito sat in silence as he digested what he’d learned. Doubtless far more than Indra would want him to, but not enough for the Akatsuki to retain a decisive advantage. He would have to send out more White Zetsus in addition to the members of Akatsuki already searching for the rings. Up until now, secrecy had been the Akatsuki’s shield, low mercenary prices their sword. If Indra Uchiha knew about the Akatsuki’s goals, that meant the Leaf did too. The Akatsuki would have to move fast if they wanted to capture as many biju as possible. Obito had plans for a great many contingencies, but he wanted at least half the biju to draw upon before starting a war. If he wanted to nip this in the bud, he would have to kill Indra Uchiha. That meant drawing him out away from Konoha.

Obito closed the book and slid it back under the bed alongside the others. He carefully replaced every object he had removed and smoothed out the bedspread to boot. Only when he was sure the room was exactly as it was before he entered, did he allow the void of his Kamui to begin pulling him in. He’d learned long ago, that very few experienced ninja made mistakes. Thus, Obito forced them to do so on and off the battlefield. He would beat the brush and see how Indra Uchiha reacted.

_Kurama’s hackles lowered only when the dark presence had moved away from the children. They were, for the moment, out of danger. Only when the presence vanished entirely did Kurama allow himself a sigh of relief and curled up to get some sleep. For the first time in decades, he was unsuccessful._

_________________________

They parted at the gates of the Uchiha district with a cheery and fairly drunk nod as Kakashi moved off in search of Mongoose’s chakra signature. Indra slipped through the house quietly, toeing out of his sandals and throwing his cloak over the back of the couch and a still sleeping Naruto as he thought of his comfortable bed. He paused a moment as he took in the disheveled living room, a stack of movies and an empty bowl of popcorn. Sasuke had propped himself against the wall with pillows, but was deep asleep, face untroubled by nightmares thanks to the Kyuubi. Tearing his gaze away from his younger self, Indra moved down the hall, already tipping forward towards alcohol-aided oblivion and dreamless sleep. He opened the door to see a man outlined by moonlight, a dark void pulling him into a spiral shape.

A single dark eye blazed red, tomoe folding out into a Mangekyo Sharingan as Indra threw himself at the man, the sound of birds splitting the midnight silence as a Chidori passed right through him and put a hole in the back wall. Indra spun to see a silver-and-black mask settle into place as a prideful voice emerged from the vortex pulling at a shadowy form. “Normally I’d love to stay and chat, but you’ve given me plenty of reading material. Some other time, Indra Uchiha.”

Lightning speared forward, but alcohol and exhaustion slowed Indra’s reaction time just enough for the void to claim his enemy. Indra released the lightning and stood in silence as he looked at his room. Seemingly pristine, save for the new hole in the outer wall. Part of him wanted to scream, part of him wanted to turn the Chidori back on and keep carving through walls, but none of it would help. Indra let out a quiet, exhausted sigh and moved back through the house. He wasn’t surprised when he found Mongoose’s body but said a silent prayer over the man’s form anyway. After storing the corpse in Itachi’s room, which was the one place he was sure the children wouldn’t go, Indra grabbed his naked sword from the nightstand and put his back against the couch to settle in for a hangover and a long, unbroken night watch.

______________________________

Inoichi Yamanaka and the rest of the Hokage’s advisory council watched with interest as Indra Uchiha paced back and forth in front of Sarutobi’s desk. A bag-eyed and thoroughly disheveled shadow clone had invoked Indra’s status as nominal Clan Head to call for an emergency Council meeting to inform them how deeply, absolutely fucked Konoha’s Barrier Corps was.

“He was In. My. House. Blood of the Gods, both of the children were right there! It’s a miracle all he stole was some intelligence and not either of them.”

The room was silent as the senior shinobi contemplated the potential loss of the Uchiha heir and Konoha’s jinchuriki to a mad Uchiha ghost. Neither was a pleasant prospect. Shikaku Nara stroked his beard before he spoke. “Uchiha-san, this is grave news indeed, and we share your alarm. But the intelligence files you provided us remain undisturbed inside the Hokage Tower, and the decoys placed in Anbu Headquarters seem to have worked. Did you have additional files within your home you did not disclose to us?”

Indra’s hand wrenched at his hair in frustration but his expression betrayed volumes of guilt. “A page of a personal diary, something I hid at the back of a parenting book, in a cipher of my own rediscovery.” Indra reached into his cloak and produced a few torn sheets of paper, seemingly blank, which he tossed in Shikaku’s direction. “A visual genjutsu coupled with a special ink means only an Uchiha with the Mangekyo Sharingan could read those pages. I had assumed the few with such a capability would not think to look in a parenting book for intelligence, and if so, would not find these pages. Stupid of me.”

To Shikaku’s right, Inoichi Yamanaka tried to soothe the Uchiha, to marginal success. “Indra, all of these are fixable problems. I can help you reconfigure the barriers around the Uchiha compound, as can Master Jirayia. The children will be safe, as will you, just tell us which intelligence has been leaked.”

“Indeed,” piped up Danzō even as Sarutobi shot his old friend a look that screamed _watch your tongue Shimura._ “This grave vulnerability in the village’s defenses must be rectified at once, if we consider the use of the transportation jutsu you described as Kamui. This Uchiha threatens valuable Konoha assets that must be removed from his reach as soon as possible.”

The room noticed he wasn’t specifying which Uchiha and the tension mounted. Choza and Shibi were whispering together, the Akimichi and Aburame reaching some hurried agreement. Indra’s only reaction was a slight thinning of his lips as his expression tightened. “Most of the information is intentionally vague and self-referential, useful only to me. It reveals that my assailants who caused such grievous injuries remain at large, an unsurprising detail to “Madara” considering he is partially responsible. It mentions Councilman Danzō’s moniker for Celestial Maggots and my knowledge of the Akatsuki’s plans. As a result, I expect they will increase their activities, though Master Jirayia’s intelligence indicates their timetable may still be several years away.” Indra gestured at the big man leaning against the wall, who nodded, his expression grave.

“The search for these rings are now my network’s highest priority. Councilor Danzō, if you could place perhaps a dozen Anbu under my authority, it would ensure the contacts Indra-san provided remain alive long enough to point us in the right direction.”

“Granted,” said Danzō immediately. “You’ll have your pick of the active-duty roster, provided you reinforce the Uchiha barrier today.”

The Hokage cleared his throat, his expression a mix of pride in his teammate and student, alongside a frustration that such cooperation was even necessary at all. “Indra.” The finality of those syllables drew the attention of everyone in the room. “You seem to have a habit of incredible mission successes, followed by stunning lapses in judgement, and your mission record is not long enough to determine if this is cause for dismissal.” Sarutobi let the last word hang in the air to emphasize the situation as a muscle in Indra’s jaw twitched. “As a result, you shall be confined to the Village in a strictly advisory capacity on all Akatsuki-related missions.”

“You can’t-“

“I can and I will,” thundered the Hokage. “Despite what you seem to think, you are not the only active-duty ninja in this village! To assume you are the only one who can perform these tasks is part of the famous Uchiha arrogance. I trust you’ve opened enough battlefield graves to understand your Clan’s fatal flaw?”

Indra’s hand went to his head and Inoichi winced in sympathy. Nursing a hangover like that and getting yelled at by the Hokage was only slightly less painful than getting shot in the head again. Still, he tried to intervene. “Lord Hokage, if Indra provided a transcript of this intelligence, perhaps we can limit the damage. I do not believe simple knowledge that we are now aware of the Akatsuki’s plans is sufficient to substantially change the enemy’s operation. Their and our long-term goals remain the same, and with the warnings the Leaf Village has sent out, the other villages will doubtless guard their jinchuriki more closely. Such a punishment is not warranted, in my opinion.”

Hiruzen Sarutobi visibly reigned in his temper and glared at Indra, his voice back to normal conversational volume, though the tone of tempered steel remained. “Inoichi’s analysis has merit. You will provide his office with that transcript within the hour.” He gestured Shikaku forwards and the Jonin Commander rose to return the torn pages to Indra’s waiting hand. “Any further business?”

The room was silent as the various shinobi exchanged glances or shuffled in their seats, but for once, they kept their own council. All could sense Sarutobi was not in the mood to be subject to further debate. Danzō alone knew the true source of his friend’s anger was in fact the same fear even now curling around his own withered heart. The idea an enemy could so effortlessly breach their defenses, had been in the same room as the Nine-Tails, and simply decided against a repeat performance of the massacre years before was bone-chilling. Not again. The Hokage clapped his hands down on the desk of ancient wood. “Dismissed, get to your posts.”

Shinobi filed out, Indra’s bowed head sandwiched between Inoichi and the massive form of Sarutobi’s last loyal student. Danzō alone remained, a mix between duty and age-old stubbornness forcing him to remain despite the fact his old friend wouldn’t even acknowledge his presence. The door closed with finality as Sarutobi removed the Hokage hat and fished a small orange bottle from his desk, opening it with shaking hands. He swallowed a pill and the bottle disappeared back into the desk as Danzō leaned heavier on his staff and moved towards his friend. They were both getting old.

“You have something to say, Shimura?”

He had a great many things to say, but Sarutobi wasn’t in the mood to hear half of them. So Danzō chose his words carefully. “Only that confining Indra Uchiha to a desk is wasting a tremendous shinobi.”

“Whose intelligence failure is the sort of thing a chunin would get thrown out of the force for. I don’t care how good a front-line fighter he is. The man wanted a position as point-operator for all Akatsuki-related operation which was half-diplomat, half-fighter. Bungling a fight isn’t nearly as horrid as failing a diplomatic mission. I’m taking him off duty before its Sakumo Hatake all over again.” Danzō had to concede the point, but the memory of a conversation with a half-delirious Indra still pulling Root apart at the seams meant he privately doubted Sarutobi had accepted the whole picture. The Hokage had always been selectively oblivious when it came to Root, so perhaps his old friend was also avoiding that particular topic. His wizened head turned to Danzō with incredulity. “Are you telling me the news the Nine-Tails is dream-walking the Uchiha Estate didn’t make you want to stick all three of them into a dark cell? You saw Kakashi’s face when he made that report, it made a cynical Anbu agent actually afraid. Kakashi! The man who’s been passively suicidal for years.”

Danzō grunted as he leaned on the Hokage’s desk. “I was more focused on Indra’s expression, Sarutobi. He seemed to expect something like this and from what my Anbu have said, he’s training all three of them in cognitive behavioral genjutsu. He’s building a team that can keep the Nine-Tails in check, I couldn’t have planned it better myself.”

“Shimura complimenting an Uchiha, now I know he’s senile,” muttered Sarutobi as his friend made a rude hand gesture. “Explain.”

“Kakashi and Indra Uchiha both possess a Mangekyo Sharingan capable of binding the Nine-Tails, and Kakashi at least has unquestioning loyalty to the Village. Indra has become emotionally attached to the boy and will protect the village if only to keep his ‘children’ safe. Sasuke Uchiha possesses undeveloped Sharingan and a close personal bond with the jinchuriki, even if it remains occasionally hostile.”

“Pot, meet kettle,” murmured the Hokage, his expression lightening as Danzō barreled on. “Sakura Haruno, while initially unremarkable, has shown a genius-level intelligence and, by Hatake’s admission, an aptitude for genjutsu. With the jinchuriki’s blind need for acceptance, the group will ensure his loyalty to the Leaf Village in turn. On a more practical level, his seal remains undisturbed despite all this dream-walking and the Nine-Tails remains unable to affect the material world. Hatake’s report indicated as much.”

Sarutobi was silent, but Danzō had nothing more to say. “You’ve provided an excellent reason to keep Indra within the village, you realize. If his team-building is already this successful, then why split up the set by sending their jonin-sensei all across the Elemental Nations?”

His old teammate looked alarmed. “His future knowledge already removed the Sound Village from the board, just think of what he could do if you let me have him for a year. Two years! Sarutobi, you’re letting your heart overrule your head on this one.”

“Shimura, your advice has been most useful, but no more. Not today. You are dismissed.”

Danzō realized this time his old friend really did want to be left alone, and so retreated towards the door with a few meaningless parting words. He did not speak until he was once more ensconced in his office below the Hokage mountain, surrounded by masked Root agents. Monkey spoke first. “How was the emergency meeting, sir?”

A knife-thin smile crossed Danzō’s face as he unfurled a map of the Western Stone desert. “The Hokage has removed Indra Uchiha from contributions to foreign policy, so we have the board all to ourselves. Just as I had hoped.” Soon, the agents were deep in conversation about the options available since the hated Uchiha had stripped their force of promising recruits and destabilized the Minor Nations in one fell swoop. A planned assault on a remote Grass intelligence outpost was soon underway and any emotion about Indra Uchiha was ruthlessly repressed. After all, what importance was a desk-bound cripple when Root’s influence spanned the whole world?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience everyone, this Chapter's been a long time coming. I've finally found a job, but won't start for a bit, so I'll have some time to keep writing. So I've been busy with that, but also wrestling with my muse, this Chapter just didn't want to be written. The good news is, we're finally at the time jump I've been pushing towards! Huzzah, soon we'll have actual Team 7 instead of the After School Special! And more good news, their first real mission won't be to Wave. 
> 
> Also, yes, Indra kept his damn mouth shut about everything he'd written down on that page, because there's believing questionable intelligence, then there's "Magic Eyeball Alien Invasion", which is going to be the absolute last thing he tells people to their face. I also use this chapter to start the long-awaited Iruka/Kakashi plot thread and to tie up the "dream walking Nine-Tails" one while giving the bad guys a win or two. Hopefully I've straddled the line making Obito a bastard while explaining why he didn't steal Naruto and Sasuke as a matter of course. It's a cop-out, perhaps, but whatever. Diverging from my outline is how we got the last two chapters of kinda-fluff instead of a time skip. :/


	36. Graduation: The Kids Are All Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years of time skip training later, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are genin and Indra tees up his next big mission.

Three Years Later:

“That wasn’t so bad,” said Naruto as he grinned and stretched his arms towards the ceiling. Beside him, Sakura made a worried face. “I don’t know, I feel like I’ll get penalized for going in-depth on the application of shuriken deflection techniques. You think Iruka-sensei will take points off?”

They heard a snort from behind them as Sasuke folded his arms. “You’ll get extra credit, don’t be ridiculous. If anyone should be worried about the written portion, it’s the idiot here.” He punched Naruto’s shoulder in a manner that only barely concealed the affection behind the gesture as Sakura rolled her eyes. _Boys_ …

 ** _Oh come on, you clock Naruto just as much, if the three of you were any more sappy I’d have to brush my teeth._** Sakura ignored her Inner Self, now well-accustomed to the running commentary on their strange relationship as she reassured Naruto and, really, all three of them, that the blonde had done well enough on the physical portion of the exam to compensate for his abysmal algebra skills. None of them wanted to be split apart. Assigned to different teams, held back, whichever, all three teenagers viewed the prospect of team assignments the next day with an equal mix of trepidation and hope.

Sakura and Sasuke were debating what sort of missions they would take on first when an ominous blonde haircut appeared at the other end of the corridor, followed by brown and black. All three fell silent as Ino Yamanaka stalked past them, ice-blue eyes glaring straight ahead as she dragged a protesting Choji and Shikamaru towards the training ground. Sakura had to force her hands out of fists as the wave of sharply directed hostility washed over her. It could have been a passive Yamanaka jutsu, killing intent, or simply the anger of someone who used to be her friend. Naruto actually pressed against the wall as she moved past him and Shikamaru shot him a look that said _I know that feeling, pal._ Only when the two groups had put another hallway of distance between them did Naruto speak up. “So, that’s not going to change, then? I woulda thought graduating would’ve helped if you two didn’t have to share the same class, y’know?”

Sakura sighed in resignation. “I think as long as we’re in the same village, she’ll still hate me.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” grumbled Sasuke, who was well acquainted with the emotion. “It’s not like she’s sworn a binding blood oath against either of us.”

“Well, of course she’s not going to swear one against you,” said the pink-haired girl with some annoyance. “You’re _precious Sasuke-kun_ and I stole you away from her and betrayed her trust.”

“This after she blew up in my house, what, two years ago, screamed at you, and has spent the last year sending me flowers? Have I said anything to her that gave the impression I like flowers? Have I said anything to her at all? Amaterasu’s flames, why is she still so interested in me?”

Naruto blew a raspberry back in the direction Ino had gone, trying to get his friends to laugh. “She just doesn’t know what a dick you are.”

“Yeah,” said Sakura, nodding in agreement. “You can be a real jerk, sometimes.”

The black-haired teen scowled, and his companions took it in stride. “Whatever. Let’s just get out of here, the party starts at five.”

They had left the Konoha grounds and began moving through the streets as the prospective genin debated if it was possible to be late to a party celebrating you, or if the party didn’t start until you were there to celebrate it.

Indra Uchiha was well-accustomed to being patient. He’d waited on stakeout for days, waited years to kill his brother, and endured Sarada’s excited lectures about genetic engineering as the words went in one ear and out the other. But, waiting outside the Hokage’s office, Indra still felt like he was going to vibrate through the floor in trepidation.

Three years.

Three busy years, reconstructing the Uchiha district to house the former Sound shinobi who had decided to stay in the Leaf Village and “make reparations”, alongside the ever-suspicious ex-Root children. Three years scouring intelligence reports for any scrap of information on the Akatsuki and the Otsutsuki who’d taken his eye, while Inoichi and Anbu watched him like a hawk to make sure he didn’t try to escape the village. Indra hadn’t realized how much Sasuke Uchiha had missed travelling the Elemental Nations until his wanderlust had returned in full force, so much that it almost hurt to be confined to the village. So he took that energy that in a less-collected man might have been called anxiety, and channeled it into training his team. Because even if Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke weren’t going to be his genin, they still absolutely were his students. When they initially complained, he’d given them days off training, fearful of overworking students who hadn’t even graduated from the Acadamy. He hadn’t been around for those years with Sarada and he was trying to strike a balance between his own mistakes of parental avoidance and his own father’s overbearing nature.

So of course, one Saturday, he’d strolled out to a training ground to run through some taijutsu forms and found Kakashi and Iruka tying the three students together with some kind of sticky putty Iruka pulled from a scroll and forcing them into taijutsu moves that looked like an insane combination of Guy and Killer Bee’s styles. While it was quite possibly favoritism outside the classroom, getting Iruka and Kakashi to date under the premise of “training” his students was an idea Indra had been quite proud of putting together, helped along by Kurenai, Guy, and, surprisingly, Cat. The Anbu Captain was less of a fixture at the Uchiha compound these days but she and Hayate had given Sasuke enough training with their Crescent Moon style that his younger self was at least competent with a blade. And Kakashi and Iruka were doing some kind of on-again, off-again dance that Indra tried to not think too hard about. Some mysteries were better left unexplored.

The door opened and Indra looked up as Iruka strode out with three hefty file folders on his many, many students. The scarred man jerked his head. “Lord Hokage will see you now.”

Indra nodded and allowed an Uchiha smile. “And will we see you this evening?”

Iruka cast a significant glance down at his paperwork. “Provided I can make a dent in this after the party’s over.”

“That’s up to you and Kakashi,” said Indra in parting as he crossed the threshold and allowed the thud of the door to mask Iruka’s noise of indignation.

“Indra Uchiha.”

Indra inclined his head at the old man surrounded once again by paperwork. Genin graduations and team assignments always doubled the work of the Kage, because they required not just temporary squad assignments, but a more long-term reassessment of the village’s military capabilities. (His Naruto had loved and hated it all in equal measure, so it was usually a dry spell for poor Sasuke.) “Lord Hokage, I appreciate the audience to discuss my request. I am aware it is highly unusual.”

“I have come to accept everything that involved you will be unusual,” said the Hokage as he lit his pipe. “You’ve submitted a direct petition to have Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno as your pupils, despite training them for a better part of three years well in advance of their graduation. Don’t you think it’s time for them to learn from someone else? Gain a wider variety of jutsu, or perhaps a new outlook on life from their sensei?”

Indra knew in his bones this was a test. “Who did you have in mind?”

“I was considering Yuhei Kurenai. You’ve been focusing Uchiha and Haruno on genjutsu, which is her specialty and I had thought to free you for more of your Akatsuki assignments, considering how patient you’ve been the last three years, save your accidental trip to the Yunnan Mountains in February.”

Indra shuffled in place. “I still am not sure how my summoning contract with the hawks was revoked.” He knew exactly why, because he technically hadn’t made it yet. But the reverse-summoning trip to Lightning Country had given him an idea, provided this meeting went well. The Hokage waved away the statement. “You returned at haste and were honest, which was the important part. Now, what do you think about my proposal?”

“It is admittedly in line with my own teaching plans, and from what I know, Kurenai would be a good genin instructor. But not for those three.”

The Hokage’s stare was challenging. “Why not?”

Indra tapped his eyepatch. “Those three will face great challenges ahead of them, if I am their instructor or not, and though they are friends, they are not yet a team. Professor,” he said, deliberately using Sarutobi’s nickname, “we both know the true bonds of Leaf shinobi are formed in battle, protecting others. It is where the great strength of the Will of Fire comes from, is it not?”

“Provided it is the sort of battle that should be fought,” said the Hokage with some caution. “I would hope you do not intend on starting a war on your first mission.” Indra crossed his fingers beneath his cloak. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” The tenth mission, perhaps. “But I would invite you to consider diamond and obsidian.”

The Hokage sat back and gestured for Indra to continue. “Obsidian from the slopes of volcanoes is the sharpest stone naturally available but is extremely brittle and will shatter if struck flat. By contrast, diamond is the hardest, most resilient substance and can only be formed under immense pressure at specific depths. This team can be either, but as Hokage, the choice is yours to make, not mine. I would object if they were trained by someone else but would still help them to the best of my ability. And it is true I would have wider latitude to conduct missions if I did not have genin to worry about, but I would worry about them either way, sir.”

Oddly enough, Indra’s last sentence was what caused the Hokage’s face to crease into a smile as some of the worry visible on his shoulders fell away. “Well, I am glad to hear your reasons, while not wholly altruistic, are at least in the right place. You’ve done good work for the Leaf Village and its people Indra Uchiha. You’ll have your genin team.”

Indra couldn’t stop himself from releasing a sigh of relief. “Thank you Lord Hokage. I appreciate your understanding. Rest assured, we will not disappoint you.”

Sarutobi was grinning around his pipe. “I hope not. Now go, you have my permission to give your students the good news.”

_____________________________________-

The Anbu agents didn’t even look at Indra as he swept through the tunnels of their headquarters, though he was at least searched once again by Root agents outside the door of Danzō’s office. Spider knocked twice on the door and it swung open to reveal the old bandaged man eating at his desk. He looked up with a feigned nonchalance and mumbled something around the rice and fish in his mouth which Indra took as an invitation. As the Uchiha entered the office he looked around, glowing Sharingan reflexively analyzing the maps on the walls of Southern Lightning country and the islands of Tea country, as well as border post locations. “You’ve been busy.”

“As have you,” said Danzō ruefully as he swallowed. “Turning perfectly valuable Root agents into tree-hugging weaklings. Because of our agreement, I’ve had to work twice as hard to maintain the Leaf’s interests on the continent. Not to mention that business with the Akatsuki’s rings.”

They both looked to the left wall, where Orochimaru’s relics were stored, behind several inches of solid metal, a heavy combination lock, and more sealing jutsu than an Uzumaki fishmarket. Indra was the first to break the silence. “I’ve come from Sarutobi’s office,” he said without preamble. “I’ll be back in the field within the week,” he waited for the grim smile to break across Danzō’s face as the man contemplated many ways Indra Uchiha could have an unfortunate accident before adding, “with a particular squad of genin in tow.”

Danzō grunted as the smile disappeared. Killing Indra was one thing, disappearing three freshly graduated Konoha genin to ensure there were no witnesses was a line that would have had Hiruzen stake him in the public square. Perhaps when they made chunin…Indra interrupted the leader of Root’s thoughts by pointing at a map of Grass country. “I had an idea for our second or third mission and I think it’s one you will agree with. But I’ll need something from that safe.”

“Explain.”

Indra had been waiting a very long time for this. “I want to go into Grass and find the Uzumaki girl we missed in the raid. Karin Uzumaki.”

“You got the boy you were looking for, along with plenty of mine. You seem to make a habit of collecting children with unusual talents, how hypocritical of you Indra Uchiha.”

Indra shook his head. “I give them choices; you just take them away.”

Both men bristled as Danzō grabbed for his cane and the tension in the room rose. The Anbu beyond the door leaned forward as kunai pouches were unbuckled. Then Indra pushed his hair back from his face and allowed his chakra to settle once more. “That was impolite of me, Councilor Danzō. True, yes, but impolite.”

“Not a wise move when you come here with a request,” pointed out Danzō who leaned his cane against the desk in favor of finishing his meal. “Which you still haven’t articulated properly.”

“I wish to trade the Kusanagi sword for Karin Uzumaki, and I suspect Grass will eagerly make that trade.”

Danzō looked at the map of Grass and made a noncommittal noise, so Indra pressed his case. “The Celestial Maggot infestation our actions spawned tore through several border towns and made the Leaf Village even less popular there than Waterfall, and they hate each other’s guts since the Third Ninja War. Orochimaru’s theft of their national treasure has been a sore spot for decades, and since the Leaf’s official policy was that the sword was lost in the battle, returning it now would allow the Kusakage and daimyo some political capital before the chunin exams in four months.”

The Leader of Root shot right back. “As you say, we’ve retained the sword for almost four years now and lied about it. Returning it now would bring questions about motive and timing, especially considering my Anbu just finished a rather delicate mission in Grass country. It would look like an apology, an admission of weakness.”

Indra raised an eyebrow. “Should we apologize?”

“Should you apologize, considering all of this was your idea in the first place?”

“That was part of my plan, yes.”

“You really expect them to just, give up the girl, when Grass’s official policy has been that there are no Uzumaki in Grass country and admitting it might upset the Mist?”

“Who are locked in civil war on the other side of Fire Country and a very large ocean. Mist is a minimal risk, even to a smaller nation that isn’t eating itself.”

Danzō opened a desk drawer and removed a dark green file, which he gave to Indra. “Given the crop failures last October, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” The Uchiha spread the file open on the Anbu leader’s desk and began reading. Once he realized what some of the photos were going to be, he made doubly sure his Sharingan was turned off. The less photographic memories of That, the better. He’d seen plenty of starving villages in the Otsusuki War, but he hadn’t expected measures like this in what should have been a hearty harvest season. “I’d heard they were importing food from the Land of Rice Paddies-“

“In addition to smuggled weapons shipments inside those supplies, yes. Life has been harsh for the people of Grass and their ninja. You really think a gifted sword will undo any of that rather than just provide more resentment?”

Indra shrugged. “It’ll give the Kusakage a symbol to rally his people around and give me an excuse to get Karin Uzumaki out of that dump.”

Danzō pretended to be surprised. “Such loyalty, and you seem to already know where she is. Following in Fugaku’s footsteps with another illegitimate child, are we?”

Indra took a deep breath and let it out slowly. _I will not gut him. I will not gut him. I will not gut him now._ He thought back to numerous rounds of interrogation he’d undergone in that hospital room, the believable lies he’d concocted out of memory. “I owe her mother a great deal,” was all he said. Let the old spy read between the lines to find what wasn’t there. He did owe Karin’s mother, because Karin herself had saved Sasuke’s life several dozen times over in his last life. She’d only rarely spoken of her mother and Grass Village, even years into adulthood, but what he’d heard wasn’t pretty. He’d already failed to find her three years ago and wasn’t going to fail again.

In the midst of his silent musings Danzō had levered himself up from his desk with a groan and crossed to the safe, which took several minutes of hand signs and dial spinning before it swung open. A shriveled hand wore three silver rings, each engraved with a kanji heavy with meaning. Three sealing rings bought dearly with whispered secrets and Anbu blood, that slowed the Akatsuki’s plans every moment they sat unused. A dark purple folder bound in string and yet more sealing jutsu held Orochimaru’s notes, and a single sealing scroll, bound with the Hokage’s wax seal. Danzō picked up the scroll and held it out before Indra, narrowed eye searching for the Uchiha’s own. “You truly plan to do this?”

Indra’s own face was serious, but his eye sparkled with tempered hope. “I do. Do you need any more convincing?” There was one last arrow in his quiver that absolutely would convince Danzō to make this mission happen, but it was risky indeed. Not one he wanted to use unless absolutely necessary. Danzō shook his head. “Just tell the Kusakage this settles things from Dozachi Pass. He’ll get the message.”

Despite himself, Indra almost dropped the scroll when the leader of Root handed it over. He stored it within his robes to hide the shaking of his fingers as soon as possible, though doubtless Danzō already had noted it. Best to leave while he was winning anyway, so Indra bowed and drifted towards the door. “Have a good evening Councilor.”

But Danzō was already deep in the process of re-locking the safe and did not reply.

________________________________

The noise of the genin graduation party in the Uchiha District would once have been unthinkable to Sasuke Uchiha, but the past three years had seen many changes he never would have expected.

“Congratulation on your graduation, Sasuke Uchiha,” said Fû Yamanaka, echoed by the pale blonde boy behind him and the trio of guarded ex-Sound genin after that. “Thank you for coming,” said Sasuke’s mouth automatically while the rest of him wanted nothing more than to flee all the questioning guests and an unoccupied corner to rest and watch the proceedings.

His silent prayer to Amaterasu must have been answered, because Yugao, the purple-haired woman who absolutely wasn’t Cat-sensei, emerged out of the crowd and greeted Fû Yamanaka and his student-siblings enthusiastically. “Fû, it’s so good to see you? How’s retirement?” She bent down and gave Kin Tsuchi a smile. “Well, look at you, he’s already got the three of you looking like fine Leaf shinobi, so he isn’t totally wasting his time.”

The children looked at Yugao with trepidation, but she and Fû swept them along deeper into the party and likely towards the kitchen and ever-attractive plates of food. A hand landed on Sasuke’s shoulder and he went for the kunai shoved down his belt before a deep voice stopped him. “Woah, there fire-spitter! Just sayin’ hello.”

Sasuke turned and gave Jirayia the Toad Sage an unimpressed look. “Oh, it’s you.”

The big man looked sheepish, “Well, you know I was just in town and heard all the ruckus and thought I should stop by. It’s not every day someone graduates from the Acadamy after all. Why I remember-“

Sasuke tuned out the Toad Sage as he saw Inoichi Yamanaka turn the corner and gazed frantically to see if another blonde in a ponytail was anywhere in the vicinity. But luck was still on his side, for Ino Yamanaka was not in visual range, which also meant she also wasn’t in fangirling range. Sasuke returned his attention to the Toad Sage who at least had let go of his shoulder to gesture with both hands. “-the size of watermelons even at that age. Say, speaking of things I need to congratulate people for, you know where Naruto is?”

Sasuke jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “In the kitchen, to the right.”

“Thanks fire-spitter!” Jirayia moved off and a scowling Sasuke noticed he very deliberately turned to the left before a horde of ex-Sound children blocked him from sight. The perverted old man wasn’t his problem, the children kind of were, so Sasuke approached them against his will, his mother’s lessons pushing him into the role of a gracious host. _I thought this was supposed to be a party for us,_ he thought. _With Uncle conveniently missing, now I have to do most of this._

Accepting the ex-Sound ninja children into the Uchiha District had been the source of a great many arguments between the last two Uchiha in the Leaf, for a whole multitude of reasons Sasuke had complained about at length to Indra and, when he wasn’t in earshot, to Naruto. Sakura had endured it patiently for the first few days then declared she didn’t have to listen to this and started trapping herself in genjutsu whenever he brought it up. They would be loud and messy, destroy the District as revenge against the Leaf, they were violating the sacred Uchiha-ness of his family’s home, they were just…alive.

In the end, that was the real problem. They would live where his family had died, and it had taken Sasuke some time to come to terms with that when he could still see Aunt Uruchi’s fruit stall and her kind smile when he looked that direction. Followed shortly after by what Itachi had done…That first year, Sasuke was very grateful the Nine-Tailed Fox made a habit of eating his nightmares. But eventually, Indra’s arguments and the gradual disrepair of the Uchiha District won him over, so once he and Indra signed the paperwork, what felt like an entire small town of carpenters, interior decorators, and ex-Sound ninja children descended on the Uchiha District with all the force of a hurricane. That was also when they’d first met the tall man in wooden sandals who’d claimed to be Naruto’s godfather and the man who’d trained the Fourth Hokage.

At first they’d just assumed he was one of the dozens of people working alongside Indra, Sasuke, and the others on physically rebuilding the District, but he stayed long after the rest had clocked out at 5:00 PM, writing long, complicated strings on indecipherable text on the walls and edges of the Uchiha District, which turned out to be modifications and reinforcements to the Uchiha-only barrier. Indra had elaborated that it was to keep them safe from some very annoying long-range jutsu and refused to elaborate. On the plus side, Sasuke had gotten to see Naruto and Jirayia dance around one another like startled deer and it had been hilarious.

As he directed the ex-Sound ninja, (there were very many children in the Sound village apparently) Sasuke’s mask of politeness crumbled in relief as a familiar pink head of hair came into view. Sakura had shoved a few senbon into her hair and pulled it into a bun instead of the ponytail she’d taken to wearing normally and combined with her kimono, made Sasuke feel slightly underdressed, but as long as Naruto was still wearing pants, he figured he was safe. His friend’s face likewise sagged as her posture changed from “proper” to “tiring swiftly”. “Remind me why I wanted to dress up for this?”

Sasuke smiled at an argument he had definitely won now. “You said, ‘Let’s make an occasion out of this’ and rushed home to change while Naruto and I just came back here. Regretting your choice?”

“Cat-san asked me how many kunai I had hidden in there and I said none, because this is the nicest thing I own. And I got a lecture about how many hidden knives are appropriate for a celebration versus a dinner party. Apparently less than a dozen is considered gauche, so that’s the last time I try to imitate my mother.”

Sasuke _hmmmed_ and fought to keep his hands out of his pockets as Sakura blew a rebellious strand of hair away from her forehead. “Anyway, let’s switch up. I’ll stay out here, you go find somewhere you can say you’re “monitoring the tenor” from and grab something to eat.”

“Assuming Naruto has left us any, sure. But wasn’t this party supposed to be celebrating our graduation?”

“Check the pile in the living room, it’s less for presents and more of a second armory at this point,” said Sakura with a wry grin. “Cat dropped something off for you there, actually.

Sasuke actually salivated at the thought of whatever his kenjutsu teacher might have in store for him, provided it wasn’t another grueling workout. But a thought kept him from dashing through the house at top speed. “Hey Sakura?”

“Yeah?” she said distractedly as she spotted very late Indra Uchiha making his way towards them.

“We’re going to be great ninja.”

“Of course, we are, now go!” she shooed at him with both hands, so Sasuke went.

The kitchen and living room opened out onto the backyard of the Uchiha Clan Head, complete with koi pond and small tree, so the partygoers had spilled out there as well when the kitchen failed to provide enough space from Naruto Uzumaki’s eating habits. The flickering fireflies were also something of a draw for the ex-Root agents, who carefully cupped them between hands and stared with faces full of wonder. Kizashi Haruno was making small talk with a stern-faced Sai Yamanaka while Naruto systematically devoured a bowl of udon. Iruka kept alternating between attempting to fill out paperwork and sending disapproving looks Kakashi’s way. While the party had far too much conversation going to be considered quiet, there was a two way silence as Iruka worked and Kakashi pretended to read Icha Icha. Sasuke swooped in and grabbed a skewer of chicken covered in peanut sauce his uncle had ordered from a caterer. “Oi, glutton what’s with them?”

Naruto slurped the rest of the noodles into his mouth and a glowering Iruka absently moved his paper out of the way of stray broth. “Shomething about Kakashi-sensei’s apartment. I dunno. Sasuke, you gotta try these little cheese things!” Naruto gave the youngest Uchiha a pleading look that meant Sasuke was in for an hour of wheedling if he said no. So, because it was Naruto, and because it was easier, he gave in. For a while the two prospective genin sat there in the kitchen munching away on pastry filled with cheese and jam as Sasuke enjoyed the relative quiet. _This_ , he was almost surprised to find himself thinking, _this was good_.

Then he heard the murmurs of conversation rise sharply in pitch, with Yugao’s voice leaping above them all. “So, where the hells have you been? You’re late to the party you started, like, how is that even possible?”

His uncle’s voice said something before Yugao blew a raspberry at him and Hayate muttered what was doubtless an apology that this wasn’t how a captain was supposed to behave. A wave of humanity swept through the kitchen and living room and out into the backyard, with Indra riding the crest and looking bewildered as Naruto and Sasuke pressed themselves to the countertop to keep ahold of their plates.

The wave subsided as Indra was deposited at the foot of the tree Sasuke had spent hours training under, now festooned with small hanging lamps. Iruka, Sakura, and the other stragglers drifted out in their wake and Indra called for calm. Iruka wrestled a small wrapped bundle out of the pocket of his flak jacket when Indra met his eye and nodded.

“Alright, alright,” said Indra with a fond look at the gathered residents of the Uchiha District. “Thank you all for coming tonight.” He cleared his throat. Indra loathed speeches, so he’d keep this short. “This is, as I’m sure you all know, a celebration because Sasuke, Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno have graduated from the ninja Academy and,” he pulled a scroll from his jacket. “Have now officially made genin!”

Kizashi Haruno wolf-whistled while his wife turned an impressive shade of crimson amid the scattered clapping. Iruka unwrapped his bundle in the candlelight to reveal three shiny new Konoha headbands. The children wound their way through the crowd to accept them, Naruto with a wide grin, Sakura with a pleased squeal of excitement, and Sasuke with quiet satisfaction that was no less deeply felt. Indra stored the scroll within his cloak again and continued. “It is also with deep pride that I will be taking on a role as their jonin-sensei to help these young shinobi come to reach their full potential in every possible way.” More scattered clapping was followed by whispers among some of the adults, but Indra wasn’t done. “However, this isn’t just a celebration of Team Seven, though they deserve every accolade possible, this is also a celebration of the last few years. Many of your lives have changed in these last few years, just like this district as we’ve worked to rebuild it and I hope both have changed for the better. A teary-eyed Might Guy handed him and Asuma a glass of champagne, which Indra accepted. “Sounds like Guy has the right idea then, a toast!”

Partygoers raised glasses of alcohol or punch in salute as Sasuke and Sakura followed suit. Naruto raised his mostly empty bowl of ramen. “A toast!” they cried out.

“To better days ahead!”

As he took a long pull of the glass, Indra added the second half of his silent benediction to the three genin. _And may we survive long enough to meet them._

Soon enough, when everyone had been “wined and dined” according to a tipsy Genma, it was time for presents. Iruka had abstained, saying any gifts as a teacher would indeed be inappropriate favoritism, but Naruto assured the man the gift of a ninja headband was already plenty. Yugao, who had sharp ears and a long memory, gifted Sakura a brace of poisioned kunai knives that gleamed pink in direct light, which the pink-haired girl received with a hug from her kunoichi inspiration. Sasuke’s eyes widened as he unrolled the scroll they’d given him and despite his normally taciturn manner, his mouth fell open. “Are you sure I can accept this?”

Yugao made a dismissive noise while Hayate smiled. “You’ve mastered the fundamentals we have taught you Sasuke. All the advanced forms are in that scroll and you can learn them as you see fit. Once you’ve mastered the basics, all else is variation.” Sasuke furled the scroll and bowed to both of them as Kakashi and Jirayia heaved something massive out of a sealing scroll, the wrapped package landing with an audible _thunk_ on the ground. Jirayia gave a hesitant smile towards Naruto and went to pat the boy on the head. Naruto twitched slightly and submitted to the affection before tearing into the wrappings as Kakashi narrated. “Jirayia-sama and I collaborated on this one, considering what you’ve been training with, and the weight should be right-“

“Oh, WOW!” Naruto’s eyes sparkled as he hefted a massive iron club over one shoulder, grunting slightly at the weight. “Oh man, oh man, this is great, thanks a bunch Kakashi-sensei, Senior Sage!”

“Oho, but it’s not just an iron club,” said Jirayia with the flair of a showman who had an audience. “Here on the handle, you just push a little chakra into that seal and poof!”

A large yellow scroll materialized around the club in a puff of smoke, with neatly painted symbols that labelled it _Naruto’s Sealing Scroll, Keep Out_! The Toad Sage preened as Naruto groaned. “Aww, it’s blank though. You couldn’t think up a few fancy techniques for me to use?”

Kakashi broke in. “Naruto, that space is for you to write down jutsu, it’s where you can store all the things you develop yourself. It’s a symbol of our confidence in you, we’ll know you’ll be a great ninja. Who knows, maybe your sealing scroll will be as powerful as the First Hokage’s one day!”

“Hopefully not quite that powerful,” joked Jirayia, rubbing his neck as Naruto flung himself into Kakashi’s arms. “There’s some nasty stuff in there.” As the Toad Sage showed Naruto how to banish the scroll from around his weapon with a seal on the opposite side of the handle, Kakashi pulled a small orange booklet from his jacket and handed it to Sakura. She scrunched up her face as her mother stifled a squawk of indignation. “Kakashi-sensei, is this one of your Icha-Icha novels?” The girl held it between two fingers like it was covered in slime.

“Really, what kind of a mentor do you think I am? No, if I’m entrusting you to Indra Uchiha, I figure you’ll need a few tricks up your sleeve, so I compiled a list of all the genjutsu I’ve,” he coughed pointedly, “acquired over the years. I’ve just camouflaged it as Icha Icha, even ripped up one of my old books for the disguise.”

Sakura sniffed and was visibly holding back the tears that suddenly threatened to overwhelm her while her mother wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be offended. “Thank you very much, Kakashi-sense.” The masked jonin strolled over to Sasuke who was basking in the envy of the ex-Sound children, though he’d never admit it. “Sasuke?”

“Hmmm?”

Kakashi gave him a thumbs-up. “Good luck out there kid.” Even Sakura laughed at her teammate’s crestfallen expression and Kakashi held out his hands in apology as Yugao shrieked something indecipherable and likely crass. “Maa, maa, just a joke! Just a joke! Hang on a moment.” He vanished in a puff of leaves and reappeared before the shunshin had even fully dissipated with something in hand, which he offered to Sasuke. “This used to be mine and I figured since I’m not in Anbu anymore, you might get better use out of it.”

Sasuke wouldn’t even try to deny that he’d gasped in wonder. “It’s beautiful,” he breathed as he took the scabbarded sword in both hands. Kakashi was still babbling and Iruka’s eyes softened as the man just kept going. “Admittedly there’s no crossguard, but that can easily be remedied. I had to redo the handle wrappings anyway, you wouldn’t believe how much sweat and blood was caked into the-“

“ANYway”, interrupted Indra successfully directing the attention of several dozen children away from Iruka successfully making a play for Kakashi’s ass, let’s continue the gift-giving and whatnot inside, before Naruto takes someone’s head off.” There was widespread agreement, especially from the people closest to the blonde who was indeed swinging his new club around with enthusiasm. Naruto stuck his tongue out at Indra and slung the weapon across his back. “Aww, you’re such a buzzkill Indra-san. Or I guess it’s sensei now?”

Indra felt an actual smile, not an Uchiha one break out across his face as he looked out at the party. He’d been stuck in Konoha Village for three years, but his patience had finally paid off. “Naruto, as far as I’m concerned, you can call me whatever you want. Just don’t take Dosu’s head off,” he added as the large boy gave Naruto a rude hand gesture and they all began to migrate inside the house.

“Well as long as we’re gonna talk about names, I’m gonna name this thing Foxfang! That sounds super-cool, y’know?”

In a stunning display, Sakura and Jirayia both groaned at the same time. “Please don’t call it that,” they chorused.

“You guys aren’t cool at all, the Hokage’s gotta be cool! I’m naming it Foxfang, so there.”

The rest of the night passed in a similarly cheerful manner, and all the while, Indra felt the weight of the scroll sitting in his cloak pocket like a silent promise. _This will begin to make things right._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I waffled on if I wanted to do a chapter just showing snippets of time in the three-year gap, but I ultimately decided against it because we're only now just getting to the beginning of Naruto in the timeline. Everyone, thank you for your patience, rest assured I have not and will not drop this story, it's all outlined to the Nth degree and it means too much to me, as dumb as it all is.
> 
> Of course this chapter is also exposition-heavy so whatever. I'll take it.
> 
> The weapon Naruto has, now dubbed Foxfang, is an idea that showed up on one of the Naruto cover pages at some point and it's such a cool weapon idea I just had to draw it! However, it's not going to be used in quite the way you expect. Rest assured Naruto won't be an instant funinjutsu master, it's not like genetically encoded knowledge the way some fics like to portray. Admittedly, I came up with the name for it myself and I think it's cool. Seeing how Naruto and I both dip into a love of Stupid Awesome things, it's also up to you readers to judge if it is indeed cool. Also, FYI, I won't make you all endure another bell test, we're all sick of bell tests. I debated having Kakashi give Sasuke his brother's Anbu sword, but then I realized a) that's super dark and b) Itachi killed their parents with that sword and probably took it with him into exile, so that wouldn't work. So Sasuke gets the Other Anbu sword. Which will also have a Twist. :3c  
> Also a belated Happy Halloween to all.


	37. First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra lays out the upcoming mission for Team Seven and they get some practice with their new weapons, just in case.

The next morning a one-eyed Sasuke Uchiha woke up in his bed and for once did not immediately slip into the mind-skin of Indra Uchiha. Instead he lay there, staring at a ceiling he’d seen every day for three years and luxuriated in his memories. Memories of the first days of Team Seven, painting fences, chasing down the Damiyo’s cat, fighting bandits with Kakashi supervising them and pretending not to hover. Naruto leaping off his shadow clones and punching a giant of a man into the river and knocking him out cold. Sasuke pulling the soaking-wet blonde out of the water with a smirk answered in kind by Naruto’s own cheer. Four months of training and D-rank missions after that initial disastrous outing in Wave had awakened his Sharingan, Naruto’s first use of Kurama’s chakra, and nearly gotten them all killed. Then the Chunin Exams, were everything had started to go wrong.

The pleasant drift of Sasuke’s memories turned sour in his mouth and he sighed as his reverie on the past was interrupted by his worries for the future. That far-away and time-distant Kakashi had done his best with Team Seven and, if Orochimaru hadn’t stuck his fangs into Sasuke, they would have turned out fine. Well, perhaps Naruto’s optimism had rubbed off on him in his old age. But this time, things would be different. They weren’t going to Wave, he wasn’t going to pressure his students into the Chunin Exams, and Orochimaru’s head was currently sealed into a scroll sitting in the Konoha Vault. Sasuke sniffed as a savory smell drifted into the room and the faint sound of fat sizzling in a pan met his ears, alongside muffled conversation. Quiet mornings in the Uchiha-Uzumaki household were much the same, he found, in this life or the last.

Smiling slightly, he pulled the shroud of Indra Uchiha around his mind once again as memories of a thirty-year old Naruto in a “Kiss the Cook” apron were replaced by the reality of a thirteen-year old Naruto and Sasuke moving seamlessly around one another in the kitchen to put together breakfast for four.

Indra stood in the doorway for a moment, enjoying the scene and he knew his husband would find the sight equally as endearing as he did. Sakura would have said they were both sentimental idiots and rolled her eyes fondly. His younger self turned as they all felt the prickle of the Uchiha barrier at the back of their necks and caught sight of him. “Oh, Uncle you’re awake.” He jerked his head in the direction of the door. “That was probably Sakura at the gate, I’ll go let her in if someone hasn’t already.”

Indra nodded as he began to pour the already-steeped tea into a glass for himself and Sasuke disappeared out the door. Indra’s teapot hovered over the second cup, covered in a floral pattern, of course. “Do you think Sakura will want tea this morning?”

Naruto shrugged as he stirred the eggs. “I dunno, probably.” His eyes lit up as he half-turned to

Stare at his teacher. “So, Indra-sensei, what’s our first mission gonna be? Are we gonna steal top-secret intelligence? Save a princess? Break into a prison?”

Indra let out a “hmmf” of quiet amusement as he sipped his tea. “Not quite yet, I’m afraid. I did promise the Hokage to not start a war until your tenth mission.”

Naruto laughed out loud. “Sensei, you’re funny, but seriously, what are we gonna do! I can’t wait to try out my Foxfang.”

Indra flipped his empty sleeve over the back of his chair. “I’ll tell you when your teammates return, don’t want to explain it all twice.”

Naruto’s groan of impatience was cut short as the door slipped open and a panting Sakura and Sasuke tumbled through it. Indra raised a single eyebrow as Sakura made a beeline for the stove only to be intercepted by a protesting Naruto. “You both ran all the way back here?”

“She ran,” said his younger self with a look of exasperation, “I just tried to keep up.”

Sakura had Naruto in a headlock and the other boy was wriggling to get out of it and stop the pink kunoichi from diving face-first into a pan. “Awww, Sakura, what gives?”

“Sasuke said you were cooking bacon,” said Sakura with a worshipful look at the stove.

“Alright, alright,” chided their sensei as Naruto’s stomach rumbled in response. “Pass the plates around and sit down. I’ll fill you in.”

As the new Team Seven ate breakfast and Indra silently appreciated the fact that Naruto now knew how to cook something other than ramen and wild mushrooms, he outlined his proposed l lesson plan. Though the team was supposed to undergo a final test of teamwork and practical demonstrations of their skills before they were officially Indra’s genin to torture, he’d brushed the requirement aside. Sakura asked if circumventing the official requirements would get them in trouble and Indra choked on his scrambled eggs and his laughter in equal measure.

“Rest assured,” he wheezed, “you three are quite competent genin already. Half the things I’ve taught you, the Acadamy hasn’t even mentioned otherwise, so you’re ahead of the curve.”

“Hell yeah! See Sakura, I told you Indra-sensei was gonna be awesome!”

Indra continued. “Rather than tedious testing, I wanted to use today to propose a little arrangement.” He held up Danzō’s scroll and waggled it. “I’ve been doing some research the last three years I’ve been stuck in the Leaf Village, and I think I’ve found one of Naruto’s relatives, who’s also about your age.”

He paused to let the statement wash over them. Sasuke and Sakura perked up and glanced to their left at Naruto, whose face was full of brittle hope. “Really?” he breathed.

“Really. She’s likely an orphan and somewhere in the Village Hidden in the Grass. The plan is to go visit her and see if she wants to come live with us here in the Leaf Village. If she says yes, we trade the artefact in this scroll to the Kusakage and everyone’s happy. If she says no,” a muscle in Indra’s jaw tensed as Naruto’s expression screwed up and he changed his sentence, “We’ll play it by ear.”

Sasuke let out a hmm that meant he was thinking while Sakura was visibly flipping through a book in her mind. “But Sensei, isn’t the Grass Village on poor terms with the Leaf? Is some old museum artefact really going to convince them of anything?”

Indra winked at her. “Never underestimate the power of a symbolic gesture, Sakura.”

The Kusanagi sword emerged from the scroll in a puff of smoke and Indra carefully held it up for their inspection. “This used to be the Grass Village’s national treasure before Orochimaru stole it for his own, many years ago. When we return it to the Kusakage, he would give almost anything for its return. A teenage girl for the sword of his nation? An easy trade.”

“We-we’re not gonna kidnap her or anything, though, right?” said a worried Naruto as Indra returned the sword to its scroll. “I mean, if she likes the Grass Village, she should be able to stay there, y’know?”

 _Fat chance of that,_ thought Indra. But what he said was, “Of course not, Naruto. If nothing else, it will be nice to know she has another family member out in the world. Look at all the good it’s done us!”

His younger self rolled his eyes and stood to rinse his plate. “Whatever, Uncle.” Still, Sasuke couldn’t hide the pleased expression on his face as Indra rested his hand on his shoulder.

“Still, it will take me some time to set this trip up. Namely, writing letters to Grass Country requesting entry, an official meeting with the Kusakage, and of course, packing our bags. We’ve got about two or three weeks before everything is in order, so I wanted to make a deal with you three…”

His genin looked up expectantly and Indra had to shove down the glee at what was coming. “Complete as many D-rank missions as you can during that time to pad our mission rankings and run Capture-the Flag exercises on Training Ground 12 with Fû and Torune’s teams so you can learn how to fight someone other than Kakashi, Cat, and I. Deal?”

Naruto was nodding so fast his head was a blur while Sakura cheered and gave him a thumbs-up. “Those Sound kids won’t know what hit ‘em, Sensei!”

“That’s the spirit, Sakura-chan!” cheered the blonde while Sasuke sighed. “This is going to be boring isn’t it?”

Indra leaned back in his chair and drained his tea. “That’s what missions are Sasuke, long periods of boredom followed by twenty minutes of action where everyone dies. Capture the Flag and fence-painting is much less lethal. Or,” he added around the rim of his teacup, ”I could just have you wait for three weeks in the Forest of Death.” When Sasuke looked rebellious, Indra piled on. “You’d be eating slugs, dodging giant tigers, and getting tormented by bored chunin without a single tomato in sight.”

Naruto pulled a face. “Aww c’mon Sasuke, don’t be such a grumpy-pants! Torune’s team’s got Zaku, anyway, and you always like beating him up. It’ll be fun!”

“Yeah,” piped up Sakura, the eternal voice of reason. “And we all need to train with the weapons we got last night, it won’t be boring at all!”

Sasuke reluctantly acquiesced and they went back for a second helping of eggs as the last piece of bacon disappeared into Sakura’s mouth.

________________________________________________________

“Wind Cutter!”

Naruto vaulted upwards off the tip of his Foxfang as a blast of high-pressure wind scythed through where he’d been and tore a divot in the grass of Training Ground 12. He let out an inarticulate battle cry as his midair somersault doubled his momentum and he brought the heavy iron club down on Zaku.

The CLANG of metal impacting a hardened shell rang across the field and made Indra look up from the official reply he was drafting on the sidelines.

_Councilor Sorai,_

_I greatly appreciate your prompt response concerning this delicate matter and appreciate the inroads you have managed to make with your Honorable Kusakage concerning the nature of our visit. Rest assured that despite the difficulties between our nations that this visit is made entirely in the spirit of good will and generosity so that the longstanding alliance between the Leaf and the Grass might regain its former strength in brotherhood. It is my hope that our meeting will outline steps the Leaf and Grass may take to begin to rectify such problems and look forward to meeting you in person. Enclosed are the personnel files for my three students who will accompany me to Court, as requested. I look forward to speaking with you in person next week._

_Regards,_

_Indra Uchiha_

_Bloodline Guardian of the Uchiha Clan_

_Jonin of the Leaf Village_

He watched as Naruto’s muscles, strengthened from training and the natural resilience of a jinchuriki strained against the reinforced musculature of Kara Aburame’s parasitic beetle. The teenage Aburame didn't have hundreds of beetles inhabiting her body, just one. A very, very big beetle who tossed Naruto to the ground with chittering that could only be described as contemptuous as it flew in to press the advantage. 

Two cries of “Chapter One: Razor Petals!” and “Gahi, come!” caused the beetle to swerve aside from the swinging Foxfang and dive back into Kara’s cloaked form as dozens of pink kunai rained down on her from the trees. But to the Aburame’s shock, most simply passed through her newly armored form as they dissolved into illusion. In the trees above, Sakura gave a wry smile, and she readied a kunai as her hands moved through another genjutsu. 

“For a supposed genjutsu user, your tricks are quite easy to see through,” called Kara.

“Well, I am only using the first chapter of my book of tricks, so, yeah. At least I made sure Gahi didn’t take a chunk out of Naruto.”

“Don’t worry about me Sakura!” called Naruto in between grunts of effort as he pressured Zaku back across the field. “It’s just a big bug, I can heal! Or I can squish ‘em!”

Kara’s eyebrows came together, the former Root member’s strongest outward sign of anger. “Please do not squish my partner, Uzumaki-san.” She paused as Zaku’s half-formed wind jutsu was dispelled by a brush of Foxfang. “Or Zaku,” she added as Sakura launched another volley of pink kunai. The cloaked Aburame waved her armored hand and flickered her chakra only to see some of the kunai disappear. _No matter_ , she thought, _none had the necessary trajectory to hit the vulnerable joints of Gahi’s armor. Some of the kunai were even going to hit one another, what a sloppy throw_.

The ping of metal on metal, followed by sudden stabbing pain proved her wrong as Kara looked down to see two of Sakura’s kunai embedded in her elbow and the barest crease of her shoulder joint. Her mouth beneath the cloak frowned as her free arm pulled them out. Trembling fingers threatened to drop the orange flag, but she forced her grip closed and charged at Sakura’s tree branch. “I’m not giving up yet, Haruno-san. You’ll have to do better than that to reclaim your flag.”

Sakura blurred out of existence as an armored fist passed through her midsection and a voice emerged from the treeline. “Missed me!”

As the Aburame girl began systematically battering trees in a grid pattern to find her, Sakura continued wrapping genjutsu around her foe as each one was thrown aside or dispelled. Deep within her hole in the ground below, as wire traps filled with pink kunai went off, she spared a thought for her other teammate. _I’m sure Sasuke’s doing fine._

_Ow, ow, ow._ Sasuke pulled another splinter from his thigh and tried not to breathe too heavily.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a training match?” he asked the boy with an oversized tuning fork who landed on the opposite branch. Togure gave him the finger and traced the restraining collar on his neck. “It is, Uchiha brat. That’s why I’ve left this on, otherwise I’d be picking pieces of you off the forest floor.”

“But I’ve already figured you out, Togure of the _Leaf_ ,” taunted Sasuke as he lowered the yellow flag in one hand and the sword in his other. “All I have to do now is just not hit that fork of yours with anything metal. So take that collar off and show me what you can do. I promise I won’t die, because we both know you’re not good enough to kill me.”

Togure snarled and flung his weapon into Sasuke’s tree. The increasing hum meant Sasuke only had seconds before the fork found the correct vibration and the tree exploded. He lept up and hands flashed into signs around his flag as Togure unclipped his collar.

“Phoenix Flower Jutsu!”

“THEN DIE!”

The sonic shockwave from Togure’s mouth dissipated the fireballs and sent the shuriken hidden within spinning away as Sasuke clapped his hands to his ears.

“UCHIHA SCUM!” bellowed the ex-Sound ninja as the amount of pulped wood and shrapnel from destroyed trees doubled, then doubled again. “YOUR UNCLE DESTROYED MY VILLAGE!”

Sasuke caught a vine and swung down to the forest floor, planting the enemy’s flag in the ground as he drew his sword, angling it to catch the faint light from the sun. “He saved plenty of people too, he got the Leaf to let you live here, doesn’t that mean something? He got me to let your ingrates live in the Uchiha District in the first place! You should be thanking him!”

Togure drew closer, riding a shattered trunk down straight at him with a murderous expression. Sasuke wasn’t impressed.

“I DON’T NEED YOUR PITY!”

There was no time to dodge, so Sasuke gritted his teeth and endured the bow wave of sonic energy. The ground reeled under him as his internal balance faltered, but he didn’t need it. His hands shifted into a Ram sign as one sword blade became three. “Illusion-style, Crescent Moon Dance!”

Togure dodged the first pair of illusory arms, and shouted away the second, but before he could draw breath to speak again, Sasuke rammed the hilt of his sword into the ex-Sound ninja’s chin, silencing him as the other boy bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood. Togure’s moan of pain caused the flag they were fighting over to tremble in the earth, but Sasuke silenced him with a swift rabbit-punch to the throat. “That’s enough out of you,” he muttered as he dug through the enemy’s pockets for his restraining collar. “So petty, and dull.”

He emerged from the trees to find Zaku buried up to his waist in the ground, staring at nothing with a glazed expression while Naruto was attempting to rescue his pants from the devouring jaws of a massive Aburame beetle. It was now Sakura’s turn to be on the defensive as she endured a barrage of taijutsu kicks from Kara’s unique style. Both girls broke apart and came together again in a clash of kunai and shuriken, running interference as Sasuke raced towards the sidelines where Indra and Torune Aburame were waiting patiently. He planted the flag and the combatants broke apart instantly. “Team 7 has retrieved their flag, Uncle,” said Sasuke as Torune leaned forward in mild concern. “Team Five acknowledges the victory. Congratulations, but where is Togure?”

“Back in the forest, around Square 27B,” said Sasuke dismissively. “I had to knock him out.”

Torune crossed his arms and frowned as Indra stood up. “Sasuke, we could here you all the way out here. Did you antagonize him to take off his collar?”

The younger Uchiha resisted the urge to squirm. Sometimes Indra Uchiha’s disapproving expression was so close to his mother’s it was creepy. “Yes,” he admitted. “You did say you wanted us to push ourselves.”

Indra swept his hair back to reveal the full force of his glare. “Push yourselves to finish that construction project, not to taunt your opponent. The fact we’re having this conversation shows Togure was still holding back, because you kept your eardrums.”

Sasuke sheathed his sword. “He sounded pretty pissed to me.”

His uncle muttered something that Sasuke missed because of the tinnitus he definitely didn’t have, but he caught “too much like Naruto”.

“What’s too much like me?” asked the blonde as he hopped over, one leg still out of his chewed-on pants. “A rampant sense of foolishness,” answered his sensei as he furled a scroll. “Naruto, Sakura, if you could deliver this to the Hokage Tower, I would appreciate it. We’re done for the day.”

“Sure thing Sensei!” they chorused.

“Torune, let’s go wake up your student. My apologies for our insouciance.”

The gloved jonin made a helpless gesture as Indra absently dragged Zaku out of Naruto’s hole and released the genjutsu Sakura had him in. “Aww, you gotta be kidding me, she whammied me again?”

“They both did,” said Torune. “What did I tell you about tactical awareness, Zaku?”

The boy’s shoulders slumped. “To fall back and stay as part of the team and not go off on my own.”

“Exactly.” The jonin turned to address Indra as they began walking, with the others curiously asking how Sasuke had beaten their teammate. “Indra-san, the fault is also partially my own. Togure should not have given in to your student’s taunts. He is the one who chose to take it off and allowed anger to cloud his judgement.”

Indra commiserated. “Thank you, Torune-san. It seems our teaching methods both have their gaps.”

“Not on the battlefield at least,” said the Aburame with a straight face as one glove gestured at the torn-up training ground. Your genin seem well-prepared for their mission next week from a tactical standpoint. They were fighting quite well together until Zaku and Kara drove them apart.”

“You’ve formed them into a solid close-combat squad,” said Indra as they approached to comatose form of Togure. “What missions are you thinking of finding for them? C and above, that is?”

“Caravan guard duty within the Land of Fire for now, maybe a few intimidation missions as cheap muscle for some low-level merchant deal. Give them time to build their skills. You?”

“We’ll get that Grass mission done with and then see how things play out,. How's Jugo doing, I've been busy with this diplomatic business, but there aren't any craters in the streets, so he must be doing well.”

"Inoichi and Doctor Ontoba are making progress psychologically," admitted Torune, "but the subconscious physical manifestations are difficult. Even repressed anger made a bio-cannon that blew a hole in the hospital wall Tuesday."

"So that's what that was," muttered Zaku.

"I'd heard rumors, but wanted to stick to my own business," said Indra. "The boy has enough fingers in his brain without me trying to add a well-intentioned Sharingan to the mix." He knelt and released a pulse of chakra into Togure, nonchalantly dodging the punch the boy threw at him.

“Fuck off Uchiha! Quit trying to pity us!”

Indra resisted the urge to sigh in exasperation. Teenagers. “I don’t. I'm simply doing my job waking up a fellow Leaf shinobi. Would you rather your sensei touch you?”

The implicit threat of Torune’s microscopic beetles effectively shut him up, so Indra capitalized on the silence. “Sasuke?”

They looked back to see his younger self writhe under their combined stares for a moment before he set his jaw and stared his victim in the face. “I’m sorry.”

“About?” prompted Indra. Getting his younger self to apologize to anyone besides Naruto and Sakura was like pulling teeth.

“I shouldn’t have goaded you into removing your collar,” ground out Sasuke. “It was reckless of me.”

“And arrogant. And stupid. All the hallmarks of Uchiha foolish-“said Taka tartly before a warning finger from her master silenced the former Root agent.

Indra didn’t even need to look to know Sasuke was bristling. He waited expectantly until Togure brushed his swollen throat and coughed. “Whatever man.”

A wince from the gloved Aburame jonin showed that was the best the Uchiha were going to get, so Indra stood and motioned for Sasuke. “Thank you once again for the training, Torune-san, Team Five.”

They were halfway back to the Uchiha Estate when Sasuke was the first to break the dueling silences between the two Uchiha. “I know it was stupid, okay? But I’m not sorry Uncle!”

 _Oh boy…_ ”Why not?”

Sasuke stuck his lip out and Indra was vividly reminded that despite being thirteen years old, this version of himself was far more expressive than the monotone drawl Indra remembered from his own youth. “Because we do need to push ourselves during training, if we want to get stronger! If I want to get stronger! How else can I kill Itachi? Compared to him, some punk with a sonic scream in training is nothing!”

They turned a corner and wove around a group of partygoers, which gave Indra time to calibrate his response. “That’s true, but this isn’t just about the Uchiha anymore. You’re all a team now, you’re supposed to protect one another. If Sasuke Uchiha dies, who gives Sakura cover to cast genjutsu? Who can spring forward to drag Naruto out of whatever new fire he’s leaped into? I skipped the qualifying test because I thought you had all learned that lesson about teamwork.”

Sasuke gave him a resigned look as he trotted out Kakashi’s motto, taken from an Uchiha, as if he needed any more reminding. “Those who abandon their comrades, are even worse than trash, huh? It’s not like that scarecrow hasn’t said that every other day for the past three years.”

Indra was silent until they reached the gates of the Uchiha District as his thoughts churned around him in a silent storm. Finally, they settled into some semblance of an argument and he put his hand on his younger self’s shoulder. “I just don’t want you to make my mistakes, Sasuke. That’s all.”

Sasuke made a noncommittal noise but allowed the hand to stay. Indra allowed himself to hope. “You’ll make totally new, different mistakes and we’ll deal with the consequences together. As a team.”

Sasuke squeezed his hand and Indra squeezed back, letting the younger Uchiha know he was forgiven.

_The Nine-Tailed Fox, at long last, felt full. Years of nightmares had caused the fox to swell in size and unseen power as the cursed Uzumaki seal had stretched to accommodate him. Not just from Sasuke Uchiha, though his tortures were a delicacy unrivaled to be savored, but all across the Leaf Village. Villagers and ninja alike slept more peacefully, but that misery and lost sleep was merely deferred, stored within the belly of the Kyuubi so that he might return it upon them tenfold in the waking world. Or upon Madara Uchiha, as Indra had so cleverly suggested. The redirect was obvious, but it did have merit._

_The fox idly nosed at Naruto’s dream, which was happy and therefore of little interest to him. Some dreck about Naruto warmly embracing a long-lost relative with long red hair and a familiar smile, with a headband displaying the symbol of-_

_Oh._

_The Nine-Tails grinned a cavern of ivory and satisfaction. Grass meant that Naruto Uzumaki was leaving the confines of the Leaf Village at long last. That meant a mission, a fight, the possibility of combat. The possibility of pain and anger. Of rage. He shivered and licked his lips in anticipation as the chance to weaken the seal lay delicately before him. Not all at once, obviously. But he would wait and give Naruto just a sliver of the power a jinchuriki could command. Just enough to make him want more._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So because I missed updating last week, (DC was a huge celebratory party last Saturday and I got plastered), you get two chapters this weekend dear readers! Next one's coming tomorrow! Also, my spacebar is broken again, so you may see extra spaces, but I'm pretty sure Microsoft Word caught them all. 
> 
> We also get introduced to some of the shiny new genin teams Konoha put together with a mix of the super-loyal ex-Root shinobi and the questionably loyal Sound children who are headed up by join and ex-Root teenagers who've semi-retired and get to enjoy the chance to put their feet up. Sai, his brother, and some of the other Root-adjacent characters will show up in more depth once Karin is back as will Jugo, who I have magnificently failed to talk about despite Indra worrying about him a great deal during the raid on Sound. This is what happens when I write over a period of months, notes only go so far.  
> Kara's named after the Japanese word for "husk" if my translation is correct and imo, I'm super proud of her design. Imagine an emaciated child in a robe who bulks out into shiny black armor as a beetle the size of a table dives back into and onto her body and provides protection. Zaku's the guy who loses his arms to canon Sasuke and Shino, while Togure's an expo of Black Bolt from Marvel comics with a supersonic voice.I originally had him mute as well, but that wouldn't give Sasuke much to play off of, so restraining collar it is! Also undercurrents of "be happy in your new slavery, brainwashed child" are intentional.


	38. Mission to  Grass: Above and Along the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Seven's First Mission Begins!

Early on a foggy Monday morning, a lone hawk dropped into its roost at the Konoha rookery with a snort of exhaustion. The chunin on duty made sympathetic noises as he untied the scroll from its leg and sniffed when he saw the wax seal on the side held the personal seal of the Kusakage. “These minor nations,” he said to the birds, “always think they can deal with Konoha just because Lord Third prefers to extend a hand instead of a fist. Unluckily for them, there’s a Council meeting this morning.” Chuckling at the Grass Village’s misfortune, the chunin leaped off towards the Hokage’s office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, was already deep into his work at this early hour. Danzō to his left was trying to decide which of his numerous foreign operations the Leaf could afford to curtail, and which had to remain in place while Hiruzen and Kotaru were managing the tax caravan guard rotations. The Land of Fire’s damiyo, satisfied at the years of peace after the Celestial Maggot disaster, was focused on creating a budgetary surplus in his administration, which meant that Konoha would be getting fewer missions in turn beyond the strict minimum necessary to secure their borders. Still, Konoha had its autonomy, not to mention its own respect to think of. Always, there were tradeoffs…

Danzō nudged him and Hiruzen was dragged back to the present. “What is it?”

His oldest friend held up a blue folder. “I was debating how much funding we should be giving Terumi Mei’s little group, considering how long the stalemate has dragged on. If we let them fall, it would still take a few years for Yagura to consolidate his power and finish wiping out the Mist’s remaining bloodlines. Either way, that’s one Great Nation tied up in internal affairs, and Sand could do with a few more ears within their beehive.”

The Hokage perused the file, his pen making a few notations here and there in the margins. “Mei’s personal charisma will hold her rebellion together a while longer, and the loss of many of the Seven Swordsmen to her rebellion or simple dissolution means Yagura has less of a claim to the Hat than he once did. Funding for Mei should remain stable, especially considering the moves the Kazekage’s been making in the Land of Wind’s court.”

Danzō grumbled but was inwardly pleased Hiruzen had given him the justification he’d been seeking. The smile on the old man’s face showed that even now, after everything, they continued to understand each other even as Danzō’s rant continued. “Rasa’s just been too damn accommodating and it’s downright unsettling. Not to mention sightings of the One-Tail have disappeared.”

Danzō always found something to complain about, his rasp a familiar and oddly comforting background noise to Council meetings. The pipe drooped in the Hokage’s mouth as he signed an order for iron shipments. “I thought a sighting of Rasa’s son was in the briefing last week.”

“Exactly!” broke in Kotaru as she adjusted her glasses. “The One-Tail used to manifest every third week or so, either fully or partially, but all of a sudden, silence. He’s playing at some game, holding that beast in reserve like that. We all send our jinchuriki on missions just to flex our muscles a bit and prove they’re still competent. Look at Cloud, they send Yugito out every six months just to make a point about whatever new territory they pretend to claim. Even Waterfall’s going to be sending theirs out, and she’s a newly-minted genin!”

The door opened and a chunin placed a letter on the Hokage’s desk. ”A message from the Kusakage, sir.”

It was beneath the dignity of a Konoha Councilor to read over the Hokage’s shoulder, but his old teammates did so anyway. “Speak of the devil,” said Kotaru as she made a quick hand sign to ward off ill fortune. Hiruzen finished the letter and read it again as his hands automatically moved to relight the embers in his pipe. Sandalwood always calmed his nerves. “How long do you think it will take Team Seven to travel to Kusagakure?”

Danzō opened the large, thick purple file titled “Indra” and consulted a sheaf. “If they use his hawk summon, perhaps days, but easily within the week no matter the weather. If they walk, perhaps two and a half weeks.”

Hiruzen hummed as the Professor’s legendary brain came up with and discarded dozens of possible scenarios and Kotaru’s mouth dropped open. “Hiruzen, I thought we had talked you out of this! Sending genin, let alone our jinchuriki on a diplomatic mission like this is madness! Something easier, like this mission to Wave Country!” She waved a sheet of paper and Danzō sniffed disdainfully. “With that two-bit Yakuza, Gato? The one trying to make a trading port and tax haven out of a few small villages? Hardly the best place to deploy our jinchuriki.”

“It is if we want to minimize the likelihood of an international incident!” returned Kotaru with equal vehemence. “Sure, we make a strong statement on crime, but a young jinchuriki losing control in the Kusakage’s court could be a disaster in and of itself. Some dumpy fishing village is destroyed, who cares?”

Both of them looked to Hiruzen, but he was grinning and motioned with a wave of his hand for them to present their arguments.

“Respectfully, Councilor Kotaru,” said Danzō “A jinchuriki at Yagura’s border risks drawing his attention away from Mei, considering he is one himself. His spies have standing orders to try and entice disaffected jinchuriki to join him in Mist with the promise of controlling their powers. In contrast, Grass Country is filled with deft diplomats, and hard ninja who would surely be able to contain the literal and diplomatic shockwaves if Naruto Uzumaki does lose control, which I find unlikely. Moreover, his presence may prove crucial to the return of another Uzumaki to the Leaf’s fold.” The old man sighed dreamily. “Just think of what we could do with a restored Uzumaki Clan…”

“You mean what horrors we could bring upon ourselves,” muttered Kotaru, making the sign of the Evil Eye just in case. “If anything would prompt Mist and Cloud to ally, it would be to ensure the Uzumaki were wiped out once more.”

Danzō shook his head.” No, Cloud would be on our side, as much as it pains me to say those words. Enough refugees likely made their way to Cloud that the Land of Lightning doubtless has a few Uzumaki still willing to wheedle their Kage to assist us. And we know Lord A will grab at any chance to increase his village’s power.”

“You’d think he learned from the mistakes of his father,” said Kotaru with some bitterness.

“Enough,” said the Hokage shortly, his indulgence at an end. “You both make excellent arguments, and the Leaf cannot ignore the strategic implications. However, the destruction of the Sound Village has put Konoha on the back foot with several of the Minor Nations, especially Grass, and we cannot ignore the opportunity to mend this wound. Especially considering the nomenclature of the Celestial Maggots is your fault Danzō.”

The bandaged man made an outraged noise for the sake of appearances but let the comment slide as the Hokage turned to Kotaru. “Assign the Wave mission to Might Guy’s team instead, the presence of the clan who slaughtered the Seven will at least remind anyone watching that the Leaf hasn’t forgotten about what the Mist did in the Third Great Ninja War. Indra Uchiha’s team goes to Kusagakure when they’re ready, but Danzō…” A heavy hand landed on his friend’s shoulder and the leader of the Anbu turned to look back into the eyes of his Hokage. “I want surviving members of the Fox Squad stationed at the border in case anything goes wrong. Are we understood?”

Danzō bowed and they returned to their paperwork as a messenger chunin departed with the Kusakage’s scroll.

“Alriiiight!” cheered Naruto, who was dancing around Haruno’s kitchen. We’re finally leaving the village; we’re going on an adventure! I’m finally gonna meet another Uzumaki! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!”

Indra handed the scroll across to Kizashi Haruno with an amused expression, his mind full of possible routes, safe places to camp, necessary supplies. He felt Sakura’s chakra drift into his mind as she made hand signs under the table, so a misty, slightly pink arrow directed his attention to Mebuki Haruno, who had turned back to the dishes in silence as her shoulders shook. Indra nodded his thanks in Sakura’s direction and broke the genjutsu gently as he reached out to grab Naruto by the scruff of his jacket. “Alright Naruto, you’ve made your point. Let’s decamp to the living room, it’ll be easier for Sasuke to fix his shuriken there with the natural light.” His eye caught a silent “thank you” mouthed by both Sakura and her father as the three outsiders sidled out into a room bathed in mid-morning sunlight and tried to pretend, they weren’t listening as hard as they could while Sasuke rubbed the beginnings of rust off a large pile of shuriken.

“Aww, Mom, it’s okay,” soothed Sakura as she hugged her mother from behind. “Indra-sensei’s been teaching me a bunch of stuff, I’ve been training with Naruto-san and Sasuke-san all these years, we’ll be fine!”

 ** _Yeah, why are we now the adults in this situation? What an annoyance, seriously! Can’t wait to get out there and kick some butt_**! **_A little help, Dad?_** Groused Inner Sakura.

She felt her father’s own strong hand rest on top of her head while the other landed on his wife’s shoulder, his calming presence enveloping both of them. “I knew this day was going to come,” he said around the lump in his throat, “I just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon. Our little Sakura is all grown-up already.”

“No she’s not!” wailed Mebuki into the dishes. “She’s only twelve, she’s still just a child! She’s our child and she’s going off to some strange land far away from us.”

Sakura huffed as some of her Inner Self’s annoyance became her own and tightened her hug around her mother’s legs. “I’ll be fine Mom, I’m going with Indra-sensei and he’s super strong, after all. He beat Orochimaru of the Legendary Sannin!”

Mebuki said something incoherent as Kizashi reached his hand into the water to wrap around his wife’s trembling hand and the strangled sponge within it. “Dear, this really is the best possible first mission our Sakura could get. She’s going on a diplomatic mission to a long-standing allied nation, and tensions are lower than they have been in years.”

(Indra silently gestured to his students that this wasn’t necessarily so, but Kizashi barrelled on.)

“She has a good teacher and good friends to help keep her safe. She performed a genjutsu two minutes ago that even I barely caught, and she’s got a good head on her shoulders. Our daughter will be fine.”

Sakura’s mother spun around and engulfed Sakura in a soapy, but passionate hug as she cried into her daughter’s shoulder. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

Sakura smiled, and so did her Inner self as she was finally able to hug her mom back properly. “I’ll miss you too Mom.”

Mebuki sniffed hard and seemed to register what a mess she was. ”Oh dear, now I’ve gone and made a fool of myself, whatever will your teammates think?” She moved her hands helplessly attempting to straighten her hair, then smooth out her kimono, but only succeeded in spreading the dish suds further around her person. Sakura giggled, then started to laugh, followed shortly by her father’s own booming mirth and soon all three of the Harunos were laughing.

Sasuke clutched at his chest unconsciously, trying to stem the deep ice that threatened to engulf him, but Naruto’s eyes softened, and he put an arm around his teammate’s shoulders in silent sympathy as he jerked his chin meaningfully at Indra. His elder gave off a soft Uchiha smile and winked at his younger self, his silent presence a reminder that Sasuke was no longer alone.

The laughter from the kitchen trailed off as Mebuki Haruno switched to fretful in an instant, worrying about what Sakura would need to pack. Obviously, a raincoat in case of poor weather, maybe did Kizashi still have one of those trick umbrellas he’d liberated from the Rain Village? Oh, plus a formal kimono if they were going to meet with the Kusakage, not to mention…

Partially as a result of the Haruno’s frantic preparations, Team Seven spent the rest of the day packing to cover every possible contingency, then unpacking when it turned out not even Naruto could move a bag that heavy. Indra calmly fielded the occasional recommendation and let them all, parent and student alike, get it out of their system. He’d missed this opportunity with Sarada, so he should be there for his new students. She’d want him to pass on what she’d never received, after all.

Sakura arrived at the Konoha gate early the next morning with a pack admittedly a little heavier than the others, only to see two whispering chunin moving back in the direction of the Hokage tower. She reached the silhouettes of her team and quirked an eyebrow at them Indra could probably see. ”So what were they up to?”

Indra kicked a small chest by his feet, which opened to show the soft glow of gold that made Sakura’s eyes double in their sockets. “Since Grass had closed their borders to Konoha until we paid them restitution for the stolen tax shipment we were supposed to be guarding three years back, this was the damiyo’s precondition for us even crossing the border.”

Sakura’s face scrunched up in confusion, as did Naruto’s. “But I thought we’d paid that back last year from the proceeds of the tariffs on Tea Country imports?”

Indra hefted the box onto his shoulder with a grunt. “We did. This is the interest payment.”

“So it’s a bribe.”

“Pretty much.” Once they were a few yards from the village gates he put it down again and motioned to their blonde. “Alright Naruto, open up that scroll and let’s see if you remember the storage seal I taught you last week.”

The Uzumaki grinned and shrugged Foxfang off his back, bringing the scroll around it into existence with a puff of smoke. “You betcha Sensei! I was practicing with everything non-essential, just like you said, and it works great!”

“You still lost half our cutlery drawer by sealing it into the void,” muttered Sasuke as his teammate unfurled the scroll to reveal a row of identical seals, devoid of the central sign that signified they were occupied by a physical object. Indra dragged the heavy chest onto the scroll, careful to not rip the paper in its passage. “Alright, here goes!” said Naruto as he slammed his hand down and channeled chakra into the sigils, which lit up with glowing blue chakra before fading to their customary inky black with a puff of smoke. When the mist dissipated, the chest had likewise vanished. Naruto pushed another burst of chakra and the chest thankfully returned to reality with a soft clunk as it landed on the ground a few meters away. Naruto frowned, “Sorry, it’s supposed to come back on top of the seal.” Indra ruffled his hair. “The important part is you made it come back, so now we didn’t lose several hundred thousand yen and I don’t have to carry that all the way to the Land of Grass and neither will Karura.”

“Who?”

Indra bit his thumb and began a sign sequence. “You didn’t think we were going to walk all the way to Grass, did we? Summoning Jutsu!”

Lines of text connecting space and anchored in blood raced across the dirt as a massive hawk appeared in the dirt with another burst of smoke. He coughed and swallowed something as the genin got a good look at him. He was huge, easily twice the size of Indra and a simply massive wingspan of dark grey plumage, highlighted by a bright red crest and clan markings along his beak. Proud yellow eyes glared down as Indra bowed deeply and the genin swiftly followed suit. “You’re early Indra Uchiha. Couldn’t you have let me have my breakfast first? Roasted naga is such a delicacy since you decapitated their foremost summoner and sent his servants to flight.”

Indra did not look up. “I apologize, Karura-kami, I simply wished to introduce my students before we begin our journey. Speaking of children, how is Garuda?”

“Oh, he’s still fluffy and foolish like all fledglings,” said the vast hawk dismissively. “Oh, yes, you may rise, I suppose.”

Indra rose and introduced each of his students who greeted the vast bird with varying forms of enthusiasm. Only at Naruto’s introduction did the Lord of the Skies raise an eyebrow. “You stink of fox, child. Did the kitsune see fit to entrust their contract to one such as you? It would be in their nature, giving the rest of us respectable summons headaches.”

“Well, uh,” Naruto was tapping his fingers together and fidgeting, not looking the beast in the eye. “I’m kinda the Nine-Tails’s host, but I’m gonna be the Hokage someday so it’s all good!”

“Stop squirming, boy!” snapped Karura. “Only prey squirms, so I despise it in predators. If you carry the Fire-Wind inside of you, that makes you a predator, first and foremost. Stand tall!”

Naruto rallied and some of his customary defiance surged forwards as a foot shoved the gold chest back into the sealing scroll and kicked Foxfang up into his hand with two quick motions. “Well excuse me, it’s not every day I meet a big giant chicken, y’know!”

“Karura-kami, perhaps we should take flight?” suggested Indra as he put himself between the small boy and the massive hawk’s beak. “You and I did want to speak with Madame Juo about the Hawk Summoning Scroll.”

The giant hawk visibly reigned himself in and bent down. “I shall rise above the insult this once Indra Uchiha, because of the task you once performed for my mother. Now get on little fledglings, else Indra and I shall leave you to toil on the ground like the lesser beasts.”

Even Sasuke rolled his eyes at the hollow threat and Team Seven gradually clambered up onto the hawk-lord’s back, only to find themselves anxiously grasping at feathers. “Um, sensei?” asked Sakura with some trepidation. “Where do we sit? There’s no seats?”

Indra was standing, unwavering as a rock as Karura experimentally flapped his wings and Naruto nearly lost his grip on a clump of feathers. “Anchor yourselves with chakra like I taught you, the principle is the same when standing on summons as it is for trees. Don’t worry, even an uncontrolled burst won’t harm Lord Karura here.”

“As if any of you could,” snorted the hawk-lord and launched himself into the air as the genin, even Sasuke, shrieked in terror. The ground fell away below them and was soon swallowed up by the morning mist, then by the clouds as they rose with each flap of Karura’s wings, again and again until the landscape of the Land of Fire rolled out beneath them, resplendent emerald in the sunrise.

Of course, travelling above the clouds, while extraordinarily fast and stealthy compared to struggling over the land, was also relatively boring. Even a godlike view can get dull when you stare at it for hours, so it was fortunate that Indra’s students were able to carry on conversation with Karura and their master. Aside from occasional pointed comments made about the superiority of flying summons to other animals, the hawk proved to be a proud, but spirited conversationalist, telling the impressionable genin tales of his home in the storm-wracked mountains of Southern Lightning Country. When Indra mentioned that both the Hawk and Raven summoning contracts had once belonged to the Uchiha Clan, the latter stolen from a Clan now long extinct during the Warring States Era, Sasuke perked up. “Didn’t the Hokage mention something about that, back when we met him in his office?” he asked Naruto. The blonde shrugged. “I dunno. I kinda had other stuff on my mind.”

Sasuke turned to his uncle who sighed and ran his head through his hair, revealing a dark red eyepatch instead of his customary blue. “One of the many things Itachi has to answer for, and something Karura and I plan to start rectifying today, is his theft of those Summoning Scrolls from the Clan Vault, along with a scroll detailing Sharingan variations, which I can only hope he hasn’t destroyed.”

“Why would he destroy it? He really wanted me to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, told me how to get it and everything.”

To their credit, Naruto and Sakura weren’t unsettled by the mention that Sasuke’s brother had urged him to kill his closest friends in the pursuit of power, but Indra’s mouth did turn down slightly. “He wanted you to guide you down a specific path in life, so he gave you specific instructions to that end. The Mangekyo Sharingan can be unlocked with sufficient anguish, though I pray it is something you will never have to experience. Especially since normally using it makes you go blind.”

“But what about yours, sensei?” piped up Sakura, who was also flicking through Kakshi’s Icha Orange Book of Genjutsu. “Yours can control just about any fire, right? You used it to put out that grease fire last year and you haven’t gone blind.”

Indra closed his eye and fought against the memories from Sasuke that bubbled up and threatened to overwhelm him.

 _A staggering, mostly dead Itachi forcing his muscles forward just to touch Sasuke’s face one last time. A man in a black mask, pouring poison into his ear, the screams of samurai and of Shimura Danzō as they died at his hand. The excruciating pain of blindness as his optic nerves burned themselves out from chakra overload. The cold bite of restraints and antiseptic as Kabuto hovered around him and a knife he couldn’t see descended towards Sasuke’s face. The pleasant chill as Itachi’s eyes reattached and strengthened his own body with a blessing from beyond the grave_. He realized he’d been quiet for some time and that Karura was speaking.

“-for some time. In fact, one of the reasons Madara Uchiha took up falconry as a hobby and as a summoning was to provide cover for his deteriorating eyesight. Using our eyesight to compensate for his own was a tactic several other Uchiha used when they burned out their eyes or lost them in battle.”

Sasuke looked up at his uncle with some concern. “Uncle?”

“I’m fine,” lied Indra. “It was a risky and gruesome procedure only possible in this modern age and with a very skilled medical ninja. In hindsight, it was a small miracle I didn’t die of infection or tissue rejection.”

Sasuke looked slightly nauseous. “What, did they take your eyes out and do something to them? Like, surgically?”

“Something like that,” was all Indra gave him and they soon moved on to a friendly guessing game where the genin tried to guess as many of the existing summoning contracts as possible.

They dipped below the cloud cover just after midday and Indra slapped a hand against his thigh in an approximation of a clap. “Your navigation is as skilled as ever, Lord of the Skies,” he said approvingly. “Barely half a mile from our first stop and you had to deal with Naruto’s incessant chatter.” There was an indignant “Hey!” from his student but it quickly rose into a shriek as Karura folded his wings and fell into a steep dive. Sakura stuck onto the bird automatically, and Sasuke only slid backwards a few inches before his chakra caught hold, but Naruto’s first instinct was to rely on his grip strength rather than chakra and simply clung to bunches of the hawk’s feathers even as one hand reached out to grab Sasuke’s belt.

They skimmed mere yards above the treeline as forests and the occasional river passed below them at a terrifying rate and it became apparent how fast they had actually been moving above the clouds. Sakura whimpered. **_Be brave,_** whispered her Inner Self, **_we faced the Nine-Tails, remember? A little fall is nothing_**! Sakura nodded and one of Indra’s lessons two weeks before crept back into her mind as her Inner Self pulled it out from their memories. “Bravery is not the absence of fear and don’t let Konoha propaganda or some hopped-up chunin tell you different. Bravery is acting in spite of that fear, protecting your comrades, and retreating if the odds are well and truly against you.”

She’d asked him if he’d ever been scared and Indra had, to their surprise, nodded. “I’ve been scared plenty of times. Fighting Mist ninja, fighting Sasuke’s older brother, sending my daughter into combat, knowing I’ll have to send you three there as well. But I control everything I need to control to be sure I can succeed, that you can succeed. Know your own abilities, your enemy’s abilities, and a thousand battles between you will hold no surprises.”

Sakura remembered her own abilities, that she was the best among them, even her sensei at precision chakra control, and, if she wasn’t knocked out, would absolutely not fall off the massive hawk. Karura wasn’t exactly an enemy, but she supposed having his four human passengers splatter like grapes on the forest floor would not be something the proud hawk would like to endure, so she supposed they were pretty safe. She tuned back in to reality to realize that she wasn’t screaming.

**_Oh yeah, that was getting annoying and you had already figured stuff out, so I just turned that off for you. Our vocal cords can thank me later._ **

_Thanks, I guess._

Karura swooped sharply upwards, causing huge gales of wind as he shed speed and flapped to a prim stop in a large dirt yard covered in horse hooves and footprints. A few of their owners were clustered to one side around a tether. The vast predator licked its beak in an exaggerated fashion as it looked at the horses, who were smart enough to shy away and nicker in fear. Indra leapt down to the ground without preamble, followed shortly by Naruto, who rolled to his feet and groaned as he realized he’d rolled over the thick metal of Foxfang. Above him, Sasuke gave what could’ve been a fond smile but was most likely a smirk.

“You should probably try practicing that maneuver more than once before doing it, Uz-idiot?”

“Oh, real clever Sasuke, you always gotta get on my case about everything, doncha?”

“I just don’t want you faceplanting in front of the Kusakage or something.”

“Would you both shut up?” snapped Sakura and her Inner self simultaneously as they kicked Sasuke off the bird by the seat of his pants and jumped after him. Karura clattered his beak in what, Sakura supposed, was the bird’s version of laughter. “Madame Juo will indeed like them, Indra Uchiha. Bring her up to speed, I’m going hunting.”

Everyone on the ground shielded their faces from the brief dust storm as Karura took off once more. “At least don’t steal from some farmer,” called Indra after him, but the hawk gave no sign of acknowledgement. The older Uchiha sighed in exasperation and turned to see the men who’d been clustered around the horses looking at them with mixed awe and suspicion. They were a motley crew, in a mix of robes, causal clothing, and armor from across the Five Great Nations. Indra’s long experience with Madame Juo’s inn had him scanning them without even the need for the Sharingan. Wary, tensed, but not unduly so, hands within reach of weapons, but not so close to provoke a standoff. Thank Hoori these were professional bounty hunters. Indra raised a hand in greeting. “Well met, Ogres. We’ve come seeking the council of the venerable Madame Juo, alongside the Lord of the Sky, and we will leave as we’ve come, in peace.”

Their leader, a man in dark green and a weathered complexion that spoke of many years on the road despite his youthful body, stepped forward. “Village shinobi are not often willing to be seen in Madame Juo’s company.” He eyed Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who had formed up behind Indra in silence, faces set and radiating as much menace as three twelve-year olds could. “Especially with children in tow. These your chicks, hawk-man?”

Indra shrugged. “Essentially. I am their instructor and none of us have bounties on our heads. That is all you should concern yourself with, considering Madame Juo’s First Rule.”

The man’s posture became more open and his face relaxed as Indra displayed familiarity with the Rules of the Inn. He waved his men back as both groups fell in behind their leaders and moved towards the swinging doors. “Always nice to meet a shinobi who doesn’t have his head in the canopies just ‘cause he’s got chakra coils. Us honest folk have to make a living too, ‘specially preying on the dishonest.” He offered his hand, which Indra shook with a small smile. “Third Rule Exemption, Kozumo Hoguo, from the Land of Stars.”

“Exemption Accepted, Indra Uchiha, from the Land of Fire.”

There were muffled gasps at the name and Kozumo looked over at the Leaf headband wrapped around Indra’s left shoulder. “We’ve heard more than a bit about you, Uchiha. Show up outta nowhere with a big Leaf force and takeout the Sound Village, then disappear for years. Look if that’s what this is-“

“I’m hardly the sort of man to bring children on a mission like that,” Indra said, allowing some of his inner disdain to leak into his voice even as he wondered internally just how wild the rumors had gotten. “And even if the Hokage did ask, I respect Madame Juo too much to agree to that sort of mission. No, this is a personal matter.”

The doors swung open and the two groups passed through to reveal a dimly lit, professionally shabby bar that had seen plenty of bar fights alongside its celebrations. The wood was well polished and worn smooth by generations of mugs even as bright lines of new wood showed the impact of blades and occasional divots showed where shuriken had found their mark. Just past noon, the bar was deserted, or nearly so. A young woman with blue hair, a lip piercing, and heavy bags under her eyes was leaning against the bar and chatting quietly with the dark mustachioed man behind the bar who was cleaning a mug. Both looked Indra and Kozumo’s way and nodded as the bounty hunter raised six fingers and Indra four. “Madame Juo will be down in a few minutes,” called the bartender. “She’s got to attend to the Ogresse here.”

“Oh yeah, I bet,” called one of the ruffians behind Kozumo, sticking his tongue through two fingers suggestively and to his credit the man from the Land of Stars managed to slap his subordinate without even turning around as Sakura choked off an outraged noise.

“A’pologies Ogresse,” said Kozumo with genuine regret. “I’ll buy you a round if it’ll make it up to you.”

The woman was impassive as she stared them down, huddled in the doorway. “No, thank you,” she finally said, turning back to the bar. “Just control your Imps.”

With a twist of his lips that suggested “What can you do?”, Kozumo elbowed Indra in the side. “You wanna sit, get the lay of the land from me an’ my crew while we wait? Third Rule Exemption, we just came from the Land of Stone.”

Indra turned, his eyebrow a silent question to the genin behind them and a twinkle in his eye that made them realize how absolutely at ease their master was. “Well, I have been grounded for three years, I could use an update from someone who’s seen the real picture. Third Rule Exemption can stand, as long as none of yours tries to get mine drunk.”

The bounty hunter pretended to be affronted. “Who do you think we are?”

All the men, even the woman at the bar joined in the chorus: “A couple of no-good Ogres!”

There were widespread guffaws or groans at a joke told a thousand times that was somehow still just as funny, so Indra hooked a chair leg with one foot and threw himself into it with a groan. “Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura.” They looked up at him, still slightly nervous as Indra jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Stick together, read the Rules on the back wall, read the drink menu, stay in sight, and don’t start any fires, otherwise this place will light up like a candelabra.”

Naruto saluted, while Sasuke and Sakura gave firm nods as their sensei was drawn into discussion with Kozumo and the men who clustered around him. As it turned out, they didn’t have to look very hard to find The Rules, because they were emblazoned on the far wall in bright red letters that shone against thinned white paint.

_Rule One: Someone’s identity is their business. Everyone here is an Oni under this roof. Men are Ogres, Women are Ogresses. Underlings are Imps._

_Rule Two: Combat within Mme Juo’s is BAD. WRONG. NOT PERMITTED. Showy exhibition fights are confined to the yard. First Offenders lose a digit. Second Offenders lose a limb. There are no Third Offenders._

_Rule Three: If permitted, personal details may be shared._

_Rule Four: Mme Juo gets a cut. If you have to ask, you already owe her._

_Rule Five: Pressuring recovering Oni is also BAD. WRONG. NOT PERMITTED._

_Rule Six: Instrument playing/singing is encouraged. Bad instrument playing/singing will be mocked._

_Rule Seven: Do not upset Mme Juo._

_Rule Eight: Oni do not get discounts._

Naruto whistled and tapped the hilt of Foxfang. “Guess I brought the right kinda weapon for a place like this.”

“You used to live in a place like this,” said Sasuke, but without any real heat. “Any tips for those of us who didn’t spend their evenings chatting with prostitutes?”

 ** _Yeah, like can they give us any tips?_** Sakura shot her Inner self the mental equivalent of a questioning look. _Are you still going after Sasuke?_

**_How the hell should I know that when even you haven’t figured that out? Kami, no, I just want us to look smokin’ hot when the time comes. Look at her._ **

Sakura turned at her Inner self’s suggestion and really looked at the woman they’d passed by. A long dark cloak covered a sheer backless top which left her side and stomach tantalizingly exposed. The pink kunoichi kept watching as the older woman sent a rude hand gesture in the direction of one of Kozumo’s men and turned back to her conversation with the bartender. Black cloth swirled around her, sections of pale skin revealing and covering themselves in a shadow play. _Inner Sakura buried her head in her hands. **Oh kami.**_

Naruto tapped her shoulder and any thoughts in her head vanished as she jumped in surprise. “Hey Sakura, did you put yourself into one of your own genjutsu again? You and Sasuke need to know this stuff if you don’t wanna embarrass Indra-sensei and I.”

“No!” she said defensively as Sasuke put his hands in his pockets. “It’s not like the Hokage can be seen hanging around the Red Lamp District, idiot.”

“Well, maybe he should! There’s just as many problems there as there are in the rest of the village, remember? I kept telling Jiji, but he doesn’t really listen, y’know?

Naruto wandered over and picked up a discarded drink menu which was covered in the yellow-brown stains of spilled beer from glasses. Naruto sniffed and instantly regretted it as he fought off the urge to vomit. Most of those were beer stains, some weren’t. “Not much to it really. You just ask girls about how things are goin’ and avoid specifics.” He took a deep breath of the still air within the bar and shrugged. “Everybody in here smells okay though. Even the lady at the counter, she just smells like funky moss.”

Sakura made a twirling gesture next to her head while Sasuke opted for silence. Naruto recognized a losing battle and offered them the menu as they drifted back towards the bar. “You guys wanna order anything?”

“We could just eat from our packs,” said Sasuke, ever the pragmatist.

“C’mon Sasuke, we’re out here in a super interesting bounty hunter bar to meet some cool old lady and you don’t wanna try the local stuff? Granola bars aren’t that good.”

“The kushiyaki is quite good,” said the woman further along the bar, who caused all three genin to jump. “Yaksha, any idea how much longer?”

The vast bartender blinked slowly and began polishing a new glass. “The Madame keeps her own time, Ogresse.”

The woman perched herself on a stool and unbuttoned her coat to reveal more of her figure, drawing the eyes of two of the three genin. “Something cool then, preferably alcoholic. You know what I like, Yaksha.”

“Chūhai it is, then. Lime flavor, this time?”

The woman’s eyes roved over Team Seven who were trying and failing to look uninterested. “An orange, perhaps, considering how well that imp seems to fit in.”

Naruto grinned and stuck out his hand. “Nice to meetcha, my name’s Naruto U-“

Sakura slapped her hand over his mouth. “Rule One, idiot,” she hissed in his ear. “Sorry about that um, Ogresse. Rule Three Exception? I’m Sakura Haruno.”

The woman’s gaze became less amused and more appraising. “Well, you’re a quick study,” she mused as thin manicured fingers accepted a tall glass from the bartender. “Bounty hunter or kunoichi, that’ll take you far. I’m afraid I must deny your exemption today, Sakura Haruno. I value my privacy.” She inclined her head at Indra and the other bounty hunters, who were pouring over a map Kozumo had unfurled across the table. She paused as Indra flicked his Sharingan on and roved over the map, memorizing its contours to appreciative murmurs from the Imps. “Not all of us are as open as your friends over there. Nor as powerful.”

The chime of a bell rang from the stairs beyond her and all looked up as three people moved away from a closing door and down the stairs. A blonde man in a weathered suit and a long-braided ponytail slunk, pantherlike, down the stairs as his startlingly green eyes marked everyone in the room. His partner, a shorter, scruffier-looking man with five o’clock shadow and what looked like a bathrobe looked grim and clutched the handle of his katana tightly. “You’re sure?”

Madame Juo snorted like a bull, with steam to match. “Wearing theatre masks and calling themselves Comedy and Tragedy? They were hard to miss, but some pretty tough customers.”

Ponytail cracked his neck, the air in his joints escaping with little pops. “So are we. Let’s go Zero.” His partner nodded and offered his hand, which was engulfed in Madame Juo’s own. “I don’t say this often, but…thank you.”

“Go on then, enough lollygagging. Shoo, shoo.”

Zero’s eyes slid over them and Sasuke shivered. He recognized those eyes, because they used to be in his nightmares. The eyes of a man without mercy or pity. A man who was already dead. A man who was staring at Sakura with a distant and oddly desperate expression as she glared right back and brought her hands together for a genjutsu. “Please stop staring at me.”

“Zerooo,” warned his partner as both his own sword and Indra’s slipped an inch out of their sheathes. The man in the bathrobe blinked and the moment was gone. “Got lost in the jungle there,” he said in what she supposed was an apology. “Okay?”

Sakura didn’t even get to answer before Zero was gone, running out the door at full speed, leaving the swinging doors rattling. As they swung back in towards the bar’s occupants, his partner simply vanished. As the tension dissipated back into the early afternoon dust motes caught in the sunlight, Team Seven got their first good look at Madame Juo. In many respects, she was a wrinkly old woman, small, back bent under the weight of years and poor posture, a kindly, warm voice that reminded Sasuke of peach carts and gifts, a flower-patterned kimono. Deep red skin, massive, weathered hands, and a mouth full of sharp, protruding teeth, said otherwise. The oni somehow managed to smile at the woman still leaning on the bar. “I’m ready for you now, my dear. Thank you for being so patient, but theirs was an unusual case.”

The woman drained her glass in one long pull and placed a few carefully folded bills underneath the rim as Yaksha wordlessly accepted them. “Thank you, Madame. Your hospitality is, as always, appreciated.”

The oni waved her hands up the stairs invitingly. “Then I shall simply have to smother you in more of it!” They moved up the stairs and disappeared into some hidden office beyond the bar-watcher’s sight.

Sasuke’s mouth worked soundlessly for a few minutes, as did Sakura’s while Indra, Kozumo, and the rest of the Imps watched with deep amusement. Naruto’s voice was unusually high-pitched. “So, does she really eat people?”

Yaksha shrugged and pointed across the room to The Rules. “Third offenders, mostly. Especially people who try to offer her alcohol.”

The pink kunoichi finally found her voice. “Wait, so she’s a recovering alcoholic and she owns a bar for bounty hunters? How does that work? I mean, why?”

“Rule One, kid. Now you Imps plan on ordering something, or are you just going to take up bar stools?”

The children huddled together for a frantic whispered conversation and Naruto turned back to the counter, still slightly drooling. “We’ll try the kushiyaki and some of those chicken stick-things, please.”

While his genin were dangling off the edges of bar stools, Indra’s face was pursed in a frown as he stared down at the collection of snap peas spread across the Western Grass border. “The scale of these incursions?”

Kozumo counted on his fingers and turned back to his imps for a brief confirmation. “I’m not exactly a strategist, but small groups of ten-man squads kept converging on trouble spots to reinforce the initial scouts. I think they were lookin’ for somethin’ and Grass took the brunt of their anger. Lotta losses on their side but seein’ as how we were running away from the fighting once we got our man, don’t take that as the holy word.”

The Uchiha traced the border and mentally calculated the distance to Konoha. The Grass Village wouldn’t have invited a Leaf Team into the country, let alone to a personal audience with the Kusakage, if they’d been dealing with incursions like that. Counselor Sorai’s formal invitation had reached the Leaf yesterday, which meant the Grass likely wasn’t expecting them for another two weeks. A premature arrival, particularly in the form of the evidently notorious Indra Uchiha could reinvigorate the alliance between Grass and Leaf on the battlefield. On his other nonexistent hand, actual battle not related to Karin Uzumaki was well outside the scope of their mission mandate and any offer of assistance could be taken as yet further insult, implying the Minor Nation was too weak to protect itself.

Indra leaned back in his chair as Yaksha set down several beers in front of their informal war council. Scattered pleasantries passed between the bartender and his patrons as the Uchiha silently brooded. Suddenly, he missed his Naruto with a passion. That eternally confident smile and quiet confidence that said, in a thousand subtle ways, as the Seventh Hokage, whatever decision Sasuke made out in the field, he would back it to the hilt, no matter the international repercussions. Indra looked over to see his genin devouring both meat and vegetable skewers. The confidence and the smile were still there, but Naruto looked to him as a teacher and protector, not as equals. Indra would have to make this call on his own, with a Village Council eagerly waiting to pounce on his perceived mistake. He lifted his mug and made a silent decision, hoping they wouldn’t make things worse for Karin. “Well then, Ogres and Imps, congratulations on a successful hunt! May ours be equally so.” There was broad agreement and one or two cheers led by Naruto. He even caught Sakura raising a glass of what he was pretty sure was tap water. One positive result of all their training was that she was definitely coming out of her shell.

A bell rang above them, and Indra cast a regretful look at his still mostly full glass but speaking with Madame Juo with beer-breath was a bad idea. He swung his glass over to Kozumo who, along with most of his men, was watching the graceful blue-haired woman descend the stairs. “Hey, Oni.”

“Ehh? What?”

“The rest is yours, if you don’t mind the backwash.”

The weathered bounty hunter grinned as he rolled up his map of Southern Stone and Grass country. “I’m always happy to have a drink I didn’t have to pay for!”

Indra approached the bar and was fishing for his wallet when a hundred yuan note folded into the shape of a butterfly perched itself on his nose. “One kindness deserves another,” said the Ogresse as she swooped past them without even a backward glance. He barely had time to unfold the money and pass it to Yakasha before Madame Juo was upon them in all her oni-descended glory. The diminutive woman hopped up onto a bar stool to look Indra in the eye, hands on her hips, and face scowling. (Though in truth, it was very difficult to tell.) “So you’re the mystery fool who’s been bumbling about Konoha these last few years?” She peered closer and tapped her long nose thoughtfully.” You wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that Itachi would you? I threw him out of here a long time ago because he set my roof on fire. Oh, and he killed his family, I suppose,” she added as an afterthought.

Indra grimaced. “I tried to kill him, if that counts, Madame Juo.”

She patted his back in what was supposed to be a comforting manner, but just knocked him forwards towards the stairs. “Well, it’s good enough for me. Such a shame, he was always such a polite young man. Ohh, and here’s his younger brother, how good to see you Sasuke!”

She swept forwards and pinched his cheek as Sasuke reflexively tried to bat her hand away, but the old woman, like most old women, would not be denied as she bundled all three protesting children into her arms. “Come, come, there’s no need to stand around with these Ogres when my office is just upstairs.”

“Sensei, help!” cried Naruto as his legs pinwheeled in the air, but Indra simply flicked on his Sharingan to capture the memory. Sakura couldn’t decide if she should be offended or comforted, and had settled on confused, while Sasuke had shut down completely, his face a blank mask. Indra waved a nonchalant goodbye to Kozumo, who returned it in good cheer, and followed Madame Juo up the stairs and through the nondescript door to her office.

While Madame Juo herself had many of the mannerisms and temperament of a grandmother, her office was a testament to her heritage. A cracked, earthen teakettle sat, simmering on the corner of the desk, which was just as worn and covered in slashes as the bar below. A small window looked out at the road leading up to the tavern, flanked by two weapons racks full of cleavers and iron clubs twice the size and weight of Naruto’s Foxfang. One particularly well-worn kanabo was nearly as tall and broad as Indra, and Naruto’s half-hearted protests cut off as he immediately began asking Madame Juo all manner of questions about it. She held up a gnarled finger to silence him and kicked the door closed behind Indra. As the lock clicked automatically, a muffling sensation drifted across the ears of everyone present as funinjutsu seals along the doorframe glowed briefly. She dropped each genin into a chair, three of which were already waiting for Team Seven and Indra leaned on Madame Juo’s desk with his good arm. “No offense, Madame Juo, but I’ll stand.”

“Of course, you will dear,” said the oni dismissively. “Now that we’re all safe and sound, let’s take a look at all of you. Let’s see…”

She pointed at Sasuke. “You’re pretty standard. Uchiha, understandably gloomy, out for vengeance, thank goodness you’ve got good friends to keep your head on straight.” She chuckled. “Or not, as the case may be. But it’s not my place to meddle.”

“Bullshit,” said Indra. “You love to meddle, so please, meddle away.”

The Oni arched a bushy eyebrow. ”Oh, don’t tempt me, Indra-san.”

Sasuke finally found his voice. “Wait, what’s this all about?”

The old oni pinched his cheek again. “Oh, don’t you worry about a thing, dearest. I just get to take a good long look at you youngsters to see where you’re going in life and in return, I help you with your little Summoning problem.”

The window rattled as the vast form of Karura landed in the yard, half a deer carcass in his claws and beak covered in bright red blood. “And, right on schedule,” Madame Juo chirped as she opened the window. “How wonderful to see you Karura! How is your dear mother?”

“Annoyed you haven’t died already, you old hag!” shouted the hawk in irritation. “Just finish your vague prophecies so we can get to business.”

“Hmf, well I never,” huffed the tavern owner as she turned back to Team Seven. Naruto was bouncing on his chair while Sakura looked skeptical. “Baba, can I call you that? Baba Juo, you gotta tell me! How great of a Hokage am I gonna be?”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly spoil that dear! Half the fun is the anticipation, after all. Isn’t that right, Kyuubi no Kitsune?”

_Inside his cage, Kurama rolled his eyes. **I’m impressed she’s still around; I would have sworn one fool or another would have destroyed her by now. Old busybody**._

Naruto looked down at his stomach, then up just as quickly. “Wait, how did you know-“

“Oh, do give me some credit dear,” said Madame Juo as she poured herself a generous cup of tea. “It’s literally written all over your face. Really, you’re an open book even to someone blind, deaf, and dumb. No wonder that boy’s going to be smitten with you, it’s endearing!”

“Wait, what boy? Whaddya mean?”

Oh, never you mind and accept the compliment.” She winked at Naruto, which made her expression seem somewhat less fearsome.

“Thanks, I think?”

“Be sure that you do.” Madame Juo turned to Sakura. “Let me guess, Indra-san. An Uchiha, an Uzumaki, the obvious choice is a Senju to complete the set, seeing how she’s clearly not a Hyuga.”

“Um, no Ma’am,” said Sakura with a more than a touch of annoyance. “I’m Sakura Haruno. We’re not really a Clan, honestly.”

“And you’re so much better off for it, dear,” said Madame Juo. “No matter what village, even if they’ve left the village, it’s all about honor this, the family name that, destined fate, blah blah, blah. It simply becomes tiresome after the first century. Live for yourself, if you want my advice. Certainly try to finish off all the prophecies you can as soon as possible, get those out of the way. Bothersome things, why if I ever get my hands on that wretched toad…”

The oni woman trailed off and strode back to the window, leaning on it to yell back down at Indra’s summon. “The girl reminded me, Karura, have any of your lot managed to devour that wrinkly Toad Elder yet?”

There was a wet snapping noise as a hunk of venison was torn from the deer and the hawk swallowed. “Not for lack of trying, but the old fool stays inside almost every day now. When will you get to our Summoning contract, because I certainly didn’t fly all this way for your wildlife, the stingy things.”

“Alright, alright, I suppose,” grumbled Madame Juo. “Get your feathered head up here and tell me the story again.”

Indra levered himself up from the desk he’d been leaning on as his summon hopped forward and stuck his massive beaked head into the second-story window, his breath quickly filling the room with the stench of deer. Sasuke and Sakura gagged, while Naruto swallowed down whatever he’d been about to throw up with visible effort and a pained grimace. “We did write you a letter, Madame Juo.”

The oni plopped herself down in her own desk chair and put her feet up on it, granting the genin a clear view of two very thick legs. “I read it, but these sorts of things are always best to hear straight from the mouths of babes. Or birds, as it were. Now go on.”

Karura began. “The Uchiha Clan has held one of the Summoning Contracts for the Goldfeather Hawks since before the Warring States Era. We were ideally suited to one another and despite outbursts of pride, both our Clans have co-existed in relative harmony. However, five years ago, the slow but steady trickle of Uchiha who signed the contract came to a halt. At first, we thought it was simply the distribution of births was off and those who would come of age would of course be granted the contract. After all, they possessed the Corvidae Contract as well, and perhaps there were simply a succession of Uchiha more suited to those tricksters.” The bird managed to look disdainful. “However, Kotchuo had flown over the Leaf Village one summer morning and saw a great many bodies in the street. For a time, we feared that we would be forced to rely more on those Summoners in the Land of Lightning as our mortal intercessors, but then word reached us of what had happened in full, by way of an accidental summoning.”

Indra took over the story smoothly, his calm temper a contrast to the hawk’s put-upon tone. “Itachi, as we all know, slaughtered the Uchiha Clan, but he also stole many of the Clan’s ancestral scrolls. The Scroll on Sharingan Variations, the Secondary Lineage Scroll, a rare painting by Tehua Uchiha who could breathe her drawings to life, and most importantly, both of the Clan’s Summoning scrolls.”

Madame Juo grunted. “So you want me or some of the other bounty hunters around here to find the scrolls for you.”

Indra shook his head as Sasuke looked starry-eyed at Karura while thoughts of his very own summon flashed through his head. To fly above the clouds like they’d done today…Naruto elbowed him and grinned as Sakura gave the younger Uchiha a thumbs-up. “I already think I know where they are, it’s getting to them that’s the problem. The Uchiha Clan meeting-temple in the South-west of the Land of Fire. It’s old and untouched, but if an Uchiha other than Itachi steps foot onto its grounds, I suspect the entire place would light up like a fireworks festival.”

“He would do that,” admitted Sasuke, who remembered the half a dozen explosive tags Kakashi and Cat had found inside Itachi’s mattress.

Madame Juo refilled her teacup and held it delicately between two massive fingers. “And how would you be paying for such an expedition, Indra and Sasuke Uchiha? Restoring a Clan’s pride, rescuing the Summoning Scrolls of the pompous and preening Goldfeather Hawks-“

Karura snapped at her but squawked as he nearly got his head stuck in the windowsill and Naruto sniggered. Madame Juo kept going. “Well, that would require more than just gold for the Oni in question, as I’m sure you know.”

“What could I possibly provide the ancient and knowledgeable Madame Juo that she could not simply procure for herself?”

“A good roll in the sack would be nice.”

Naruto fell off his chair, Sasuke went for his sword, and Sakura’s Inner personality burst out into near -hysterical laughter, followed a moment later by Madame Juo.

Indra and Karura shared a long-suffering look and returned to simply staring at Madame Juo.

“Oh, hohohoho, you should have seen your faces,” the oni cackled as she pointed at the children. “That was absolutely worth offending the Uchiha Clan’s Bloodline Guardian for. That’s not even his style!” Her mirth disappeared just as quickly as she had summoned it and the old woman swung around to stand before Indra, looking up at him in all seriousness. “No, Indra Uchiha,” she said sternly. “I want you to find Tsunade Senju and make her settle her debt with me. She’s avoided this region of Fire Country for twenty years, and I’m tired of waiting. Or you could cut out the middle-woman and find my husband’s head yourself.”

Nothing in Indra’s past, present, or future knowledge had the slightest hint to the location of Madame Juo’s husband. “I didn’t even know you had a husband.”

“Neither did your wife, yet you still had one. Why deny an old oni the same pleasures?”

Indra was about to say something deeply unwise when Karura screeched in irritation. “By the sky, you two-legs always take far too long with everything, just agree to the sun-scorched mission and let’s get going! We’ve lingered long enough here as it is!”

Madame Juo held out her hand and Indra, with some hesitation, took it. The genin leaned forward, expecting some flash of light, pulse of chakra, or elaborate sealing jutsu, but there was none. Indra surreptitiously wiped his hand on his pants. “Would there be a time limit on this debt-settlement, considering your impatience?”

“As long as it’s not another twenty years,” said Madame Juo as she opened the door and began shepherding them down the stairs.

“Baba Juo, why’d your husband’s head go missing, though?” asked Naruto as he slid down the bannister.

“That would fall under Rule One, dear. Come back with a respectable bounty under your belt and maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime.” She turned and waved a welcome to the Oni currently engaged in a spirited game of dice with Kozumo’s Imps. “Tayuya dear, it’s so good to see you again. You’ll never guess who just finished indulging me. Another Uzumaki, by way of the Leaf! He’s such a cheerful young man…”

The sound of Madame Juo’s voice fell away as the Sound Four locked eyes with each one of Indra’s students.

The red-headed girl’s cool gaze drifted over Sasuke and Naruto, lingered on Sakura, and locked on to Indra’s face with all the inevitability of a falling star.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arguably the scenes with the Hokage and the Harunos should've gone into the last chapter, as part of the "first steps", but I'm pretty happy with the way things are. This chapter also had scenes where multiple characters are talking, and I hope things are balanced enough that no one member of Team Seven got shortchanged. Again, apologies if you catch extra spacing problems, it's such a pain. I also got the chance to include a frankly gratuitous reference to Katana Zero, which is a damn good game and worth playing for the story alone. Fortunately the gameplay is as smooth as silk and as rich as cream, so I'd highly recommend it.
> 
> To clarify, Madame Juo isn't an actual oni/demon, but the descendent of one, which she plays up with the theme of her bar/inn. She just got stuck with some unusual physical features, similar to Kisame, who we'll eventually getting to. I really enjoyed playing with some of the stereotypical Oni tropes, such as their love of alcohol and foresight. She has...interesting priorities, compared to our heroes.  
> Similarly Indra's new summon, Karura, is the father of the hawk Garuda who Sasuke has in the "canon" timeline, but who is still a chick right now. Karura is the Japanese name of a bird-god who had dealings with the mythological Indra, trying to free his enslaved mother, which is part of Indra's accidental summoning during the time skip. I always felt like a bird motif suited the keen-eyed Uchiha anyway, more than Orochimaru's snakes. Karura's not an actual god, but Indra flatters him with the title every once in a while.
> 
> Japanese terms: Hoori-God of Hunters.  
> kushiyaki-grilled vegetable skewers commonly found at Japanese bars  
> chūhai-a tall, alcoholic fruit-flavored drink often served with peanuts


	39. Mission to Grass: Unexpected Uzumaki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sound Four and Team Seven reach an understanding as something else reaches out to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US who celebrates it. Time to bunker down as we head into the long dark holiday season. The closer I can get to Christmas without hearing endless canned carols, the more I can enjoy them when the time comes. Wishing all of my readers a safe and enjoyable time out there. Wear a mask and wash your hands!

Indra’s knuckles were white as he gripped the hilt of his sword underneath his cloak, but his face was expressionless. He inclined his head in the barest suggestion of a nod as his mind gamed out every possible way this conversation could go. Sixty percent of the permutations in his head ended in a fight, a fight his team would lose, with deadly consequences. He could feel the assessing gazes of the Sound Five as well. Kidōmaru, arrogant and amused, Tayuya, a bubbling cauldron of skepticism and curiosity, Jirōbō, unsurprisingly hungry as he eyed fresh stores of chakra, and Kimimaro, whose teal eyes burned with cold fire as killing intent poured off of the slim man. The Naruto in his head cajoled Indra forward as Madame Juo passed in front of him, his blonde student following in her wake.

“Ogress Uzumaki of the Sound, it is my profound pleasure to introduce you to Ogre Uzumaki of the Leaf.”

Naruto stuck out his hand and beamed one of his signature smiles. “Hi there! My name’s Naruto Uzumaki, an’ I’m gonna be the next Hokage. Nice to meetcha!”

The older redhead looked him up and down, one hand on her hip. “Fuckin’ whatever, shrimp. Where have the tides taken you?”

Naruto’s expression said he clearly had no idea what she was talking about, but Sakura answered as she rallied to her teammate’s side. “Far from the rocky shore and currents of our birth, Daughter of the Tides.” The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes. “I told you about this Naruto, remember? The traditional countersign greeting from _Konoha Etiquette_?”

“Aww, c’mon, you expect me to memorize all of that?”

Kidōmaru chuckled as some of the tension began to dissipate. “Kid wants to be a Kage and can’t even memorize a basic greeting? Good luck with that.”

“Hey!-“

Whatever Naruto was about to say was cut off by Tayuya as she wrenched his head up and studied his face, turning it side to side before shoving him backwards. Her hand moved towards Sakura to repeat the gesture but Sasuke snatched her wrist, glaring right back up at the older kunoichi. “Don’t touch my friends.”

Something bone-white dropped into Kimimaro’s hand and sliced towards Sasuke’s face, only to be intercepted by a massive red hand that engulfed the blade and most of the Sound Ninja’s hand.

“Now, dears, haven’t I been very clear about the Rules?” asked Madame Juo in a disappointed voice. Naruto’s hand found the handle of Foxfang and was trapped by the diminutive oni-woman’s other hand. “If you’re going to fight, take it outside!” She pivoted on the spot, sending both teams scattering backwards and flung first Kimimaro, then Naruto through the doors to land in the dirt yard. Karura squawked and hopped backwards as the two human projectiles landed next to his deer carcass. “Seriously?”

“Sorry, Karura-san,” muttered Naruto as he scrambled to his feet and spun to the side as a bone blade sought his throat. “Hey, what gives teeny-brows?”

“Your master killed mine,” ground out Kimimaro in a monotone. “Therefore, I simply have to return the favor.”

“Aww, c’mon,” moaned Naruto as he moved backwards towards the crowd who had spilled out onto the steps and were arguing furiously. “Then you should be going after him, not me!”

“Agreed,” called Indra from where he was being held back by Kidōmaru and Jirōbō. “Your quarrel is with me, not my students.”

The white-haired Sound ninja’s emotionless façade cracked for the first time as something wounded and crazed bled into his eyes. “You could never understand!” he cried, “How you have hurt us, the only way I can make you hurt in turn!”

Tayuya and Sakura were having a low, but fierce discussion in whispers while Sasuke loomed behind Sakura’s shoulder, expression torn between supporting one friend or the other. “Look, I’m telling you Naruto’s the Uzumaki not me!”

“And I’m telling you we both know that’s bullshit. Look, the kid’s obviously good at drawing attention, but the jig’s up! Come with us, and I’ll call my friend off.”

 ** _She’s hiding desperation beneath her anger,_** _noted Inner Sakura as her outward self rallied._ “I think better when my friends aren’t in danger of decapitation,” she snapped. “Call him off now.” Her hands moved through signs as she laced her sentence with both subtle and unsubtle compulsion genjutsu from Chapter One of her book. Tayuya clearly caught the obvious one and dispelled it easily as Sakura felt her own chakra slip into the redhead’s subconscious. “Genjutsu user, well, whaddya fuckin’ know. Alright, fine. I didn’t really want to have to pick up Kimimaro’s mess anyway.” Tayuya raised her voice as Naruto’s collar was shredded into orange and white scraps by another pass of the bone blade. “Kimimaro, Sakon, enough!”

The lavender mop of hair at the nape of Kimimaro’s neck stirred as Team Seven stared in astonishment. “Sure Tayuya-san,” croaked the head as Kimimaro froze in place, limbs straining against themselves. Naruto scrambled backwards on all fours, the handle of Foxfang slick with sweat as Sasuke ran to him at last, hands moving over Naruto’s shredded jacket.

“Naruto, are you okay?”

The blonde gave Sasuke a shaky smile. “Yeah, thanks. I’m fine. My jacket’s pretty shredded though.”

Sasuke looked like he wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or exasperated. ”You have two more just like it back home.”

“But it’s like my signature thing, y’know?”

As the boys bickered to hide their relief and all ignored Kimimaro hissing threats at Indra, Naruto, and Tayuya, the redhead gestured for her subordinates to release Indra. Team 7’s sensei snatched his sword back from Kidōmaru’s many hands and glowered at Jirōbō, who had drained a sizeable portion of his chakra. “You taste just as good as I remember,” said the big man greedily. Indra flipped him off and turned to their leader. “It is a pleasure to see you again, Tayuya Uzumaki,” he said shortly. “If you kept better control of your blade, we might be having this conversation over a meal. I really don’t see why we need to be enemies.”

“You killed Orochimaru-sama,” she snapped, but visibly reigned herself in. ”That’s a big fucking deal, so we can’t let that slide.”

“Understandable,” Indra allowed. “But I would appreciate it if you left my genin out of our business.”

Tayuya pointed her flute at the trio, who were all sitting on the grass and making faces at Kikimora and thanking Sakon for paralyzing him. “Well, at least one of ‘em is an Uzumaki, so that makes ‘em my business. They who you wanted me to meet, last time we fucked each other up?”

Indra nodded. “I was married to an Uzumaki once and owe him a great deal. Getting Clan members to meet, is the least I can do.”

The redhead was silent as they watched Jirōbō and Kidōmaru come to the defense of their paralyzed squadmate. “If you’re all quite done,” came an impatient voice from the doorway. Madame Juo occupied most of it as Kozumo and his Imps tried to slide past her unobtrusively. Indra stood aside to let them pass and the man from the Land of Stars slipped something into his hand as they went by. Tayuya looked down at the two teenagers describing to a skeptical Team Seven how they’d kicked Indra’s butt, and tucked her flute back into her belt. “Guess so. Does an old bitch like you still have time for a young bitch like me?”

The oni sniffed disdainfully. “Provided your Imps behave themselves, of course. I did say I had so much to tell you. Why, two Uzumaki under my roof, it’s been quite a while since such a strange circumstance.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tayuya only barely hid the wave of relief that passed over her and Indra couldn’t blame the girl. Madame Juo’s ire was not something any long-lived ninja had. The redhead turned to point at her subordinates. “Alright, fuckers, listen up. Sakon, you’re in charge, just put Kimimaro to sleep, we’ll deal with him later. Jirōbō, Kidōmaru, hands off the Uchiha until I get back. I gotta talk to him too, then we’re heading back.”

“Can we get something to eat?” pleaded Jirobo, and Indra was uncomfortably reminded of Naruto and Sasuke as Kidōmaru shoved the larger man with three arms, sending him stumbling sideways. Sakon’s “No” and Tayuya’s “Yes,” intercepted one another and Jirōbō accepted the answer he wanted, instead of the one he heard. He positively bowled over Madame Juo, who pivoted at the waist to send the teenager’s significant mass towards the bar. “Alright, you Imps, back inside.”

The Sound Ninja strolled past Indra, each shooting him some measure of ill intent, but they were smart enough to know when to pick their battles. Sakon was slower, stumbling slightly in the familiar/unfamiliar body of Kimimaro and Indra turned to see Team Seven giving him questioning and doubtful glances. Through a curtain of dark hair, he saw Tayuya disappear into Madame Juo’s office along with the old woman herself. “Alright,” he relented. “Team meeting.” They huddled around Karura’s head and an Earth jutsu from Sakura buried the remains of the deer carcass underground. Unsurprisingly, Naruto was the first to speak.

“Okay, what the heck’s going on here, sensei?”

“These are naga-kopikyatto,” hissed Karura in disdain. “They stink of the Snake, may his bones rot in the earth forevermore.”

“They’re Orochimaru’s former bodyguards,” elaborated Indra. “I fought them three years ago, fairly successfully, I might add, but I never expected them to show up here.”

Sakura’s eyebrows rose. “So when they said they trapped you in a stone golem?”

“They left out the part where I shattered it with lightning,” said Indra with fond recollection before sobering up. He unfurled the paper Kozumo had slipped him, read it, and passed it to Sasuke. “Here’s the deal. Kozumo over there’s agreed to help find out Summoning Scrolls, and we’ll meet up with him here on our way back from Grass. Karura, how much time is left on your summoning?”

The vast eagle scratched at the dirt in thought. “Perhaps two and a half hours, but you won’t be able to summon me again for some time. A few days, depending on how hard the journey is, a week if those Naga manage to injure me.” The disdain in the hawk’s voice showed how likely he thought that prospect was. Sakura spoke next.

“So, plenty of time for us to make it to the Grass border today, right sensei?”

Indra nodded. “If the parameters of this mission were to simply rescue one Uzumaki, yes. But Tayuya’s presence here is a rare opportunity for a flag of truce.” He looked at Naruto, “This might be the once chance for you to speak with her when she’s not trying to kill us, considering she’s a B-rank ninja with a chip on her shoulder.”

“She’s a Naga, just like her master,” hissed Karura. “Trust nothing she says. One of her kind lets honest feelings do dishonest work. But if you plan on walking into a viper’s mouth, remember that I warned you.”

Naruto looked torn; he was fidgeting with the hilt of Foxfang. “Well, I don’t want to cause any of you guys trouble, maybe we should just go on ahead and-“

“Naruto,” interrupted Sasuke as he put a hand on the blonde’s shoulder, looking him in the eyes. “You have to try. Even if she hates our guts, at least that’s one more person from your family you know, right?”

Naruto looked uncertain, but at Sasuke’s hopeful expression, nodded. “Yeah.” His voice came out hoarse and he cleared his throat. “It’s just-“

Sakura put her hand on Naruto’s other shoulder. “No matter what, you’ve got us.”

“Jeeze, let a guy finish a sentence why don’tcha?” he mumbled, but the tone was one of relief more than anything else. “Okay, let’s stick around and meet this lady.”

Indra bowed to his summon. “Karura-kami, thank you for carrying us all this way. Your counsel has been much appreciated, but we shall take the land route from here.”

The vast hawk bent to Indra’s ear and spoke softly so even Sakura next to him could barely hear. “You know this is a mistake, Indra-san.”

“It’s not his choice to make,” said Sakura to her sensei.

Karura disappeared in a plume of smoke that filled the yard, causing the horses tied up to nicker in surprise. Indra herded the children inside as his eyes met those of Kozumo, who had just swung up onto the saddle of his horse. Indra slapped his clenched fist against his heart and the bounty hunter responded in kind. The Uchiha passed into the bar once more, not knowing it was the last time he would see the man alive.

_____________________________________

The inside of Madame Juo‘s bar lost the sleepy quality it had earlier in the afternoon in favor of the expectant silence before a battle. Indra shepherded his genin towards the chairs closest to the door and with a clear line of sight to the three Sound Ninja leaning back in their chairs with the same forced casualness. They’d already eaten, and it was clear each his students were occupied with their own thoughts, so Indra allowed the silence to stand for a while. Even when he did begin discussing escape plans and combat techniques, it was mostly to draw his students out of their heads. _Allow some deliberation but avoid brooding_. While something similar had been mentioned in Parenting Book #2, this was an Haruno/Uchiha original. Both groups waited for an hour, long enough that the sun had already started to dip towards the horizon and a few of the “regulars” drifted in for drinks. Shabby men in shabby clothes, with suspicious eyes, but all kept their distance from the two tables hosting ninja.

Finally, the balcony door opened and Tayuya stalked out ahead of Madame Juo. The small black cap that had been on her head before was gone and red hair cascaded around her shoulders. She stormed down the stairs and dragged Kidōmaru into a hushed but fierce conversation. The spider-ninja’s extra hands might’ve been useful in battle, but to Indra’s Sharingan, it meant all his physiological tells were three times as obvious. Shock, incredulity, suspicion, then sudden acceptance. They clasped hands and the diminutive leader of the Sound ninja strolled over to Indra’s table. To his silent pride, the children had been watching as well, and had picked up at least some of the dynamics at play. Sakura’s hands disappeared below the table, at least three genjutsu of varying levels of subtlety. Naruto crossed his arms and the set of his shoulders meant he was bracing emotionally for whatever was to come. Sasuke was simply staring at the woman from behind clasped hands. Tayuya gave a put-upon sigh and put her hands on her hips. “Madame Juo says you lot are headed to Grass and there’s some kind of fighting going on out there. We’re gonna make sure you bastards get there in one piece, see if we can’t pick up a contract in the bargain. Fair?”

“So now you’re all buddy-buddy with us?” asked Naruto as his master raised one eyebrow at Tayuya in a silent question. The girl blew a strand of hair back on her forehead as something approaching pride flashed across her face. “Just with you, blondie. I figure as the closest thing to a Clan Head you’re gonna get, you need some help, ‘cause right now, you don’t know shit about shit.”

“Well, that’s certainly true,” blurted Sakura with a playful elbow to Naruto’s shoulder. “I tried teaching him that greeting twice, and it didn’t stick.”

“I’ve found that with Naruto, the key is repetition,” said Indra dryly as some of the tension began to dissipate. Sasuke was still watching the comatose form of Kimimaro like a hawk, so he took pity and indicated the pale form, where a purple head of hair was protruding from the sleeping man’s shoulder to gesticulate with a withered extra arm for another mug of beer. “Will Kimimaro Kaguya be a problem?”

Tayuya gave him the finger and beckoned over Jirōbō as the massive man swallowed a roll of sushi whole and licked his fingers. “Mostly his problem, but that’s why I keep this overly polite idiot around, even though he’s eating us out of half our pay every week.”

“You eat just as much,” rumbled Jirōbō. “So which one’s the actual Uzumaki?”

“The freaking blonde, if you can believe it. Go help Sakon get mobile, we’re hitting the road with these Leaf bastards, we can kill their sensei later.”

Shrugging, Jirōbō offered a shoulder to the two ninja sharing Kimimaro’s body and they moved to pay off the bartender while Kidōmaru hovered at Tayuya’s right shoulder. The genin looked first at the Sound ninja then at Indra with concern, but he waved it away. “I’ll be fine.”

“I swear to the Goddess,” growled Tayuya, “If it wasn’t for family fuckin’ obligations, you’d be a dead man.”

The two groups moved towards the exit and Indra noticed Sasuke and Sakura had surrounded Naruto protectively while keeping their sensei between them and the Sound Ninja. “Then I am grateful,” said Indra, “that Madame Juo was able to impress upon you the importance of family.”

Tayuya chuckled. “Oh, that’s fuckin’ rich coming from the guy who showed up after his clan was dead.” She turned to Naruto, who was glaring at her with clenched fists and bared teeth. Over his shoulder, Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a look. Naruto was angry, time to listen and see if Sasuke’s theory about the Fox was true. “So, kid, level with me. Which one of your parents was the Uzumaki, and what did they tell you?”

Naruto fired right back, his temper riled. “I’m not gonna tell you anything if you keep being so rude to us! First you don’t believe me when I say I’m an Uzumaki, then you keep threatening Indra-sensei. My mom was Kushina Uzumaki an’ she was twice as cool as you an’ I know that even if I never met her!”

“Hmf, I have a summoning contract with demons, I’d say that’s pretty cool. Kushina Uzumaki, though…” Tayuya rolled the name around in her mouth, tasting each syllable for something familiar. “Kido, you hear that name at all?”

“Lord Orochimaru mentioned it a few times when he was attaching these,” one hand tapped his multi-jointed shoulders, where dark scars still remained. “Granted I was pretty high on painkillers, but he wished he could’ve gotten a sample of her blood, just to give us better healing. Said he saw her picking ice spikes twice the size of kunai out of her back and thighs once. It’s not much, but hey, confirmation.”

Several hands gave Naruto a thumbs-up, “you’re in the clear kid.” His smile was patronizing, but Naruto either didn’t notice or chose to ignore it as Tayuya’s other teammates left the bar, followed by assorted jeers. She rushed to them, hands moving over Kimimaro and Sakon’s form. “What did you idiots do now? Are we banned from Madame Juo’s? Please tell me we’re not banned from fucking Madame Juo’s.”

Even the younger members of Team Seven could hear the note of desperation in her voice, which was quickly smothered by the return of Tayuya’s perpetual irritation at her team. Sakon spoke up. “Apparently my existence disturbed some people’s meals, and Kimimaro’s argument was rather loud, but we got it sorted out.”

“So he’s not going to sprout bones and try killing us all in half a mile?”

“I will not,” said Kimimaro with obvious reluctance. “I would prefer to be awake for the duration of this encounter, so Sakon has agreed to give me control of my body back once more. Even in death, Lord Orochimaru’s wisdom shines through his decision to unite us.”

 ** _Okay, this dude is bugfuck crazy, and that’s coming from me,_** said Inner Sakura and her outer self agreed heartily. Of course, as they set out, both ninja groups attempted some thoroughly unprofessional and blatantly obvious shuffling. No one wanted to leave even a tenuous ally at their backs, but everyone wanted to be near their fellows, so what emerged was a staggered procession with Sasuke and Kidomaru in front, Tayuya and Naruto behind them, and both Sakura and Jirōbō as a break between the most lethal fighters of Kimimaro and Indra, who were pointedly ignoring each other and kept their hands close to weapons.

Tayuya had her flute in her hand and was flipping it between fingers as Naruto looked up at her expectantly. “So you said something about family obligations?”

The girl blinked, drawn out of her head. ”Yeah, so first things first. No matter how strong you get, even if you become Hokage, never, ever, tell a Mist shinobi you’re an Uzumaki. Quickest way to Death by Hunter-Nin you’ll ever get.”

Sakura’s voice floated over from further back. “But, it’s been decades since the Fall of Uzushio, and the Mist is locked in a civil war, why would they send valuable ninja away from the battlefield just to hunt one Uzumaki?” 

Tayuya’s laugh was bitter with experience. “To the Mist, every dead Uzumaki just makes the Mist more secure, no matter the circumstances. My mum was a clam fishwife, an’ she got six swords through the back anyway. You think Yagura cares? The guy who instituted the Bloodline Wars, just to be absolutely sure? He’d mount our skulls on his headboard while he’s fuckin’ his wife. Nah, stay far, far away from the Mist an’ the Land of Water if you can.”

Naruto swallowed hard and his eyes were bright as he asked, “But why do they wanna kill us so badly?”

Tayuya clenched her fist as the black sigils of a curse mark spiraled out from the nape of her neck. “Because we were powerful, and we scared them. Tiny, mortal ninjas, with their tiny jutsu and tiny minds. As if Uzushio ever wanted something as petty as political influence with a damiyo when we could seal away real _power_.”

_Deep inside Naruto, Kurama woke from a deep slumber. He smelled something familiar, the scent of salt and ancient rocks. **Interesting.**_

The older Uzumaki was ranting now. “Uzu was older than them and even after they tried so very hard to kill us all, you and I are proof of their failure. Mother’s blessings make us hard to kill. The Goddess of the Seas favors us, not the Mizukage. Even here, so far from the sea, our ancestors are with us.”

Naruto’s mouth dropped open as Tayuya’s skin darkened and horns sprouted from her brow. Indra and Sasuke’s hands were on their swords, but the Sound ninja didn’t look concerned. Sakura elbowed Jirōbō, “Should we be worried?” she hissed, but the large teen shook his head. “Nah, she’s on a roll, now.”

Tayuya pointed one taloned finger at Naruto, as golden-yellow eyes stared into blue. “We fucked them by surviving, and we’re going to keep fucking them until they’re bloody! Even in our ignorance, with our libraries ash, my mother and I kept the faith! I’ve survived two villages now, through water and fire, and I have kept our contract with the demons of Oni Island.” She held up her flute, backlit by the dimming sun, and the pale metal glinted silver-white as she threw her arms wire and bellowed at the universe. “We’re still here! We won’t just lie down and die! We bound the God of Death into a Jutsu and made him our bitch, so bring it on!”

There was a hiss of oiled steel as Sasuke drew his sword and thrust it into the sky as well, eyes blazing red. “The Uchiha and the Uzumaki are still here! We won’t just lie down and die! We will have our vengeance!”

Tayuya’s expression burst into a fierce, fanged grin and Indra was suddenly, vividly reminded of his Naruto, fangs bared in defiance, as he stared down his death in pouring Uzushio rain. He wasn’t sure if it was a promising comparison and opened his mouth to say something, but Naruto beat him to it. “Sasuke, what’re you doing? This is my family junk, buzz off!”

The younger Uchiha shook his head. “I told you before Naruto, we’re family. Indra-sensei, you told us the shinobi world chewed up clans and spat them back out. The only way we can start changing that, is if we do it together. We’re already doing that, right?” His gaze softened as his free hand reached out to cup the back of Naruto’s head. “You’ve been here for me, let me be here for you.”

Naruto nodded and hugged his teammate, burying his face in Sasuke’s collar. Tayuya looked like she’d seen a ghost but nodded as she clenched her fist once more. “You really mean that, kid? You understand what that means?”

Naruto drew away and looked between them as Sasuke nodded. His sword flashed across his palm and he offered it first to Naruto, then Tayuya. “A blood oath between clans. Protection, no matter what, even if the whole world is against us.”

“It sure sounds like it is,” muttered Sakura. Indra stepped forward, ignoring Kimimaro. “Sasuke, Naruto, you should slow down and think about this. A blood oath can be dangerous, especially considering-“

“He’s right,” said Kidomaru, as he shoved Tayuya back and the girl barked out a stream of curses. “We’ve got two days until we get you to Grass, all of you should think before you go doing something rash, _Tayuya_.”

The diminutive stood on her tiptoes, but even with the Cursed Seal’s horns giving her height, Kidōmaru still looked down at her. “Go cool off. Scout, if you must, but you’re not the only one missing a Clan. Come back when you get that chip off your shoulder.”

Tayuya snarled at him, and again, the resemblance to Naruto was on full display. “Fuck you, Kido.”

Indra folded his arm over his stump. “The spider is correct.” His Sharingan flashed. “Go.”

The girl turned and vanished deeper into the woods ahead of him with a shunshin. Only when the group was sure she was out of range did Kidōmaru let out a sigh and gesture for the others to fall back into position.

“I really thought she was going to slug me,” he said as they began to move again.

“She was,” said Kimimaro, his teal eyes narrowed at the side of Indra’s head. “What genjutsu did you cast, Indra Uchiha?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” lied Indra as Sasuke began wrapping his cut hand in bandages wrapped in healing ointment, courtesy of Mrs. Haruno. Two of Kidomaru’s hands halted the boy’s movements as they began to glow with green healing chakra. “Let me handle that, kid. Save those for an actual wound.”

Sasuke felt Naruto draw closer. “Wait, you know healing jutsu?”

“Well, Lord Orochimaru sure as hell wasn’t going to heal my flayed shoulders himself, so yeah. Plus, six arms mean I can cover more of these idiots when they get stuck in and actually wounded in battle. Sniping some idiot like your sensei is so much simpler.”

Indra allowed himself to be drawn into the conversation. “You tried. Never did manage to land a hit.”

“Well, you promised to break Tayuya’s nose, and that didn’t happen.”

Sakura chuckled, then looked embarrassed, but none of the others appeared offended.

“Is this what counts as shinobi humor?”

Indra tossed her a granola bar, which was intercepted by Jirōbō. “Considering no one has opened a bottle of sake, yes.”

The earth rumbled and something crashed against the forest floor, sending birds and other small animals fleeing in their direction. Naruto cast an anxious glance off into the forest and tapped his hands together. “She’s coming back, right?”

“Once she gets it out of her system,” grunted the large man as he ignored Sakura’s protests. “She’ll be fine.”

___________________________________________

True to the Sound Ninja’s prediction, Tayuya returned as night fell and the two groups began to set up camp. Unlike the mingling done on the road, the sleeping arrangements were one-sided, but everyone was pleased when the diminutive girl dragged a fairly large buck back to the outskirts of camp for dinner. Sasuke quickly set up a fire as Jirōbō and Naruto found common cause in speculating which parts of the deer were juiciest to eat. Indra cleared his throat. “Gather ‘round, kids, I’ll show you how to clean and dress a deer.”

Sakura let out an “ewwww” of disgust that was for once, shared by her inner self. “Sensei, that’s so gross, do we have to?”

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. He’d hunted with Him once, but he hadn’t seen the process that led to the side of boar appearing on the table that night. His mother and brother had united against Fugaku on that note. “I don’t know if-“

Indra knelt at the deer’s stomach and channeled lightning chakra to two fingers. “You won’t always have rations, and it’s good knowledge to have. Naruto, Sakura, you don’t want your first experience with a body to be on the battlefield.” He paused and looked over his shoulder. Sakura was visibly bracing herself as if her sensei was about to hit her and Sasuke looked sick to his stomach. Tayuya stepped forward and rolled her eyes. “Fuckin’ figures. The kid wanted to do a blood oath this afternoon, and now gets grossed out by a deer. First kill’s gonna mess these ones up good.”

Indra stood up and brushed his hair back in an attempt to mask his irritation at the woman. “Ideally that day will be far away. Kidōmaru, help me hang this, I’ll skin it myself.”

The multi-limbed man nodded, and they moved off further from the campsite, the buck over their shoulders. Naruto’s posture slumped. “Indra-sensei’s disappointed in us.”

Sakura swung to look at him, “What, no he’s not! We don’t need to see all that gross-“ she paused, “Stuff.”

Tayuya leaned on Naruto’s head and grinned when he ducked out from under her and glared. “You probably do. Take it from us, he’s tryin’ to ease you three into what being a shinobi really is. You really think you three can have a whole ninja career just knocking people out?”

Naruto kept his mouth shut, but the older Uzumaki seemed to read his mind anyway, because her laughter filled the small clearing. “Sh-shut up! You don’t get to laugh at us like that! It’s not funny!”

“Oh, it absolutely is!” chuckled Tayuya. “Guys, how old were you when you saw your first body?”

“Twelve,” said Jirōbō.

“Eight,” mumbled Sakon’s head.

“Five,” said Kimimaro, from where he was mutinously constructing a spit out of what looked like his leg bones. Sakura gasped and Naruto took a step back as the flesh of his leg opened up and gently disgorged a yellow-white bone along with a generous helping of clear white fluid. The white haired man had pulled up his pants legs and allowed his purple shirt to fall away and gather around his waist, but watching someone fiddle with their own bones gave Naruto the same feeling as if he’d walked into the wrong dressing room. And not in a good way. “I don’t see what you children are so upset about. Konoha really has gone soft, like the rumors say.” Despite his dry tone, they could still hear the disdain. Jirobo’s foot nudged the pale man in the side, “Show ‘em the thing, Kimimaro! You know, your party trick.”

He frowned. “If you refer to my Clan’s kekkai genkai so casually, I’ll skewer you with it, just to remind you to show some respect.”

Sakon’s head jerked back and headbutted Kimimaro. “Just do it,” chided the parasitic head. “It’ll be funny.”

“Will you make it an order, Tayuya?”

The redhead grinned. “You better fuckin’ believe it.”

With a put-upon sigh that said clearly how much better he was than this, the last member of the Kaguya clan stood up, stripped off his clothes in two quick movements, and turned himself inside out.

_It was like watching a flower bloom in reverse. A messy, wet, flower._ Alright, it wasn’t much like that at all, but Sakura’s Inner self had to come up with something. She was crouched behind Sasuke’s shoulder as the image burned itself into her vision and tried very hard not to be sick. She felt the gorge rising in her throat and spun away to empty her stomach all over the forest floor, to the Sound Ninja’s laughter. Naruto had cringed backwards as well and put his hands over his eyes. “I’m not looking! I’m not looking!” he chanted. “Gross, gross, gross!”

Sasuke made a strangled noise that might’ve been “meat” or “me”, Sakura couldn’t tell over. A hand, small, but impossibly strong, wrenched her upright and dragged her forward, towards where- _oh kami she could smell it. Smell him._

“Open your eyes,” came Tayuya’s fierce voice, no longer laughing. “Both of you, open your fucking eyes, NOW!” Sakura was shaken like a ragdoll, but she kept her eyes shut tight. “Screw you, you bitch!” she yelled back, and Naruto echoed her. “Yeah, what the hell, lady! Just when I thought you were kinda cool, you’re totally psycho!”

“You need to see this,” she hissed, more to Naruto than Sakura. “You both want to be ninja, well this is what it is! If you can’t handle it, pick another profession, hells, pick another name! You don’t deserve to be an Uzumak-OW!”

Sakura dropped to the ground and opened her eyes to dead leaves and brown earth, along with the pale white of her hands. No organs. She turned, _don’t look don’t look,_ to see Naruto standing defiantly in front of Tayuya while Jirōbō looked on with amusement. “You don’t get to decide shit, lady!” she said and drew strength from the look of profound gratitude Naruto gave her. “Everybody gets to decide what family means to them, and that includes their family name! My mom wanted me to be a seamstress and I enrolled in the ninja academy anyway! You don’t get to tell Naruto anything!”

“Brave words, from a squeamish coward,” came Tayuya’s rejoinder. “Time to face reality.”

Flames ignited in Sakura’s eyes. “You and I both use genjutsu,” she said. “We make our own reality!”

With that, her hands moved through a series of signs as Sakura cast a utility jutsu from Chapter Three of Kakashi’s Genjutsu Handbook: _Detachment from Earthly Concerns_. It was technically a medical ninjutsu that would allow a shinobi to feel pain, locate the source of the damage, and discard the information as unimportant, promoting an efficient state of mind even in the heat of battle. It could also be used as a distraction, Kakashi’s notes had said, as one of several layered genjutsu to alter the enemy’s perception of themselves until they had forgotten a kunai had pierced their femoral artery.

Sakura stood up, clenched her jaw, and looked straight on into the horror of Kimimaro’s “party trick”. Exposed muscle and ligaments shifted around a skull that looked like it had layers, not to mention twice as many teeth stacked on top of each other. A skeleton layered on top of the rest of the body, with a second, stronger bone structure below the visible muscle groups. His ribs were thicker, closer to plates, but she could still see organs pulsating between the cracks even as skeletal, wet hands cupped them close.

“Tayuya,” sighed a burbling voice, “Can I shift back? You know it’s difficult to hold some of these organs in, and I’ll be coughing the rest of the night.”

“No, wait,” Sakura was surprised at her own voice as she drew closer. “Something’s off.”

Her head was right at Kimimaro’s chest level, and the firelight might just be playing tricks on her…Sakura looked back at Tayuya and Naruto, who were both looking at her with surprise, then back at her subject’s face. Oddly enough, his teal-blue eyes were recognizable and comforting for all the apathy they displayed. “My body is a unique self-replicating osseus structure, of course it isn’t like your anatomy textbooks, girl.”

“Not with your bones,” she drew a circle around his abdomen, “with your lungs, right in there.”

Tayuya dropped Naruto like a sack of bricks and strode over, bending to follow Sakura’s pointing finger. “There, under the fifth rib.” The redhead hummed.

“There’s something, open up, Kimimaro.”

They all caught the note of uncertainty in her voice and drew closer. Even Jirōbō lumbered over as Kimimaro’s ribs retracted back into his spine. Two reddish-pink organs began to fall forward and without a thought, Naruto, Sakura, and Tayuya’s hands came forward to hold them in place. “Please do not drop my liver.”

“I’m more concerned about his lungs,” came a strained voice from over her shoulder as Sasuke bent to examine the man as well. He was paler than usual, and his voice was a little shaky, but Sasuke indicated the two sacs that inflated and deflated with each of Kimimaro’s breaths. “I don’t think those spots should be there.”

Against the warm glow of the firelight, the brown spots on otherwise pinkish flesh stood out like kunai on a field of snow. Kimimaro’s voice remained calm. “My lungs have always looked like that, from my memory.”

Sasuke and Sakura both shook their heads. “That’s not a good thing,” Sasuke said, even as he knew this entire experience was going to give the Nine-Tails twice as many nightmares to feast on tonight. For once, memories of That Day were going to be actually useful. “Great-Uncle Kozuchi, had that, and he was a heavy smoker.”

_He’d been sliced open, hip to shoulder, and Sasuke had seen the man’s lungs as he’d rushed over to see if the man was still alive. The cigarette in his hand had still been warm._

“Jirōbō, get Kidōmaru back here,” Tayuya’s voice had the big man disappear in a shunshin as Sasuke closed his eyes and resisted the urge to rub his eyelids. The way he was right now, he felt like he might just rip his own eyes out, so-

Naruto’s hand crept into his, and the thought vanished on the night breeze. He felt pressure on his leg and looked down to see Sakura leaning against him, taking deep breaths. This was fine. He was fine. They could be each other’s rocks for now. He just had to hold steady.

“Alright, what’s the problem? Oh cool, we all doing party tricks? You should see the stuff I can make with my spit, makes the ladies run wild-“

“Get over here you dribbling moron,” ground out Tayuya as she shifted her grip on what might’ve been her teammate’s stomach. They heard Indra’s voice leap an octave and a half into outrage as he stalked forward, and Sakura felt a warm hand begin to drag her backwards before Kidōmaru shouted and a scuffle began behind her. “You _filthy_ ingrates-“

“Don’t get deer blood on my teammate’s organs,” barked the spider-man. “Are you blind?”

“Yes, please continue to waste time,” said their patient. “I’ll just let your genin keep holding my organs in their tiny little hands.”

“Sakura,” said Tayuya in a voice that was straining for calm, “Show the six-armed medical ninja what you found.”

She and Sasuke indicated the brown spots on the Sound ninja’s exposed lungs and Kidōmaru drew a sharp breath through his teeth as two glowing hands gently probed the lesions. “Yeah, that’s a problem. K, when was the last time you did this trick?”

“Six months before Lord Orochimaru’s death, when we were celebrating Curse Mark maturation.”

“And yet you wonder why we razed your village to the ground and rehabilitated the survivors,” muttered Indra.

“Kidnapped them for brainwashing, you mean,” burbled Kimimaro.

“I swear to the Sage, I’m webbing both of you up for the night if you don’t shut up,” said the med-nin as pale webbing spread over his face to form a mask. “K, cover yourself and go lie down on that rock, I’m pulling rank as medical ninja. Tayuya, you and the Leaf ninja, finish up that deer. Jirōbō, I need you to take notes for me.”

The cluster of ninjas near the campfire slowly broke apart and the genin looked up to see Indra glaring at the Sound ninja with a thunderous expression on what remained of his face. “This is not the end of the conversation.”

“I don’t expect it to be,” said Tayuya as she moved back towards her deer. “You comin’ kids?”

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked at one another as Sakura dispelled her genjutsu. “Well,” admitted Naruto with a ghost of his normal grin, “at least the deer won’t be talking to us.”

Fortunately for them, it did not and the genin found, to their surprise, the entire process was kind of fascinating, once Sakura used a genjutsu to block out the smell. There wasn’t even all that much blood left and Sasuke found himself examining the corpse like a puzzle as Indra danced around it with a kunai, making small cuts here and there until Tayuya grabbed two fistfuls and shucked seemingly all the fur clean off the body with a satisfied grin. “Nice, I kept meaning to buy a new cloak.”

“It takes weeks to cure a hide,” said Sasuke, speaking from experience. He’d had to wait for what felt like forever until the boarhide bracers were bestowed on the two young Uchiha hunters. Long burnt to ash by now, like everything he’d shared with That Man. He was drawn out of his black thoughts by Naruto’s cheering as Tayuya laid the hide out on the forest floor, fur to the ground. “Alright, kid, lower your voice. Now this isn’t strictly sanitary, but all the best sealing jutsu use blood.”

She bit her finger and traced out two quick signs on the glistening underside of the deer. The blood glowed bright red for an instant, then darkened to an inky black as the wind picked up in a brief swell. As it passed, the hide seemed to shrink and dry out before Naruto’s wide eyes. Tayuya picked up the hide, now perfectly dry, and slung it around her shoulders, flipping the remnants of the head over her own until she was looking out from under it. “Nice ‘n cozy.”

Naruto swung Foxfang off his back and palmed the hilt, rolling out the sealing scroll before the smoke had even dissipated. “Man, that was awesome, Tayuya-san! I totally take back what I said before, you are pretty cool. Can you write that seal down, otherwise I’m never gonna remember!”

The other Uzumaki looked at her bleeding thumb before two small objects hurtled at her face. She caught them reflexively and blinked at the sealed inkpot and small paintbrush Sakura had sent at her before tracing their path and giving a small nod to the younger kunoichi.

 _She’s never going to actually apologize to us, is she,_ thought Inner Sakura.

 _Not a chance,_ her outward self replied. _But I can see where she was coming from. I mean, did you hear her voice? She doesn’t want Naruto to die because he’s standing around after he fights someone._

**_You are scary-good at reading people, now. Have I mentioned that?_ **

_Indra-sensei said the Uchiha all use micro-expressions, of course we got good at it, hanging around two of them all the time. We’re a team remember?_

**_And on that note, I’m just going to stuff these memories of a talking anatomy diagram into this box for later._ **

_Thank the Sage…_

_________________________________________

Indra yawned and covered it with his hand as they leapt through the heavy forests of Fire Country. They were making good time, but he frowned at the white-haired ninja two trees over, who had, true to his prediction, been coughing since his “party trick” the night before. While sleep and Naruto’s apologetic explanation had somewhat cooled his temper, worry was foremost in Indra Uchiha’s mind. A dead deer was a good starting point, but Kimimaro’s frankly creepy set of abilities would have grossed out even a more experienced chunin. From what Sakura had told him in a clipped, businesslike tone of voice, her genjutsu, plus the emotional load-sharing between her Inner and Outer selves meant she’d be as emotionally stable as she ever was. Naruto, though spooked and grossed out, had also bounced back this morning. The sound, if not the specifics of his conversation with Tayuya and Sakura, drifted back in his direction. Something about hereditary genjutsu from a minor Uzushio clan. Of course, she wasn’t going to teach it to Sakura, how naïve did Naruto think she was? Indra allowed himself an Uchiha smile.

 _For once,_ he thought, _one of my plans is working perfectly._

His eye drifted to Sasuke, who had been quiet, but had drank in the carving and cooking of Tayuya’s deer the night before, hands clasped in front of his face. That meant he'd been deep in thought and trying to hide his face. Indra sometimes thought having knowledge his younger self’s explicit psychological makeup was cheating, but, well, shinobi cheated all the time. He pushed forward with an extra burst of chakra and launched towards the front of the group, landing on the same tree as Kimimaro. “I’ll take point, you go check on your patient.”

The spider-man gave him several middle fingers. “It’s not like he’s going to drop dead, jeeze,” but fell back anyway. The two Uchiha travelled at the head of the pack for twenty minutes of studied silence until Indra broke first. “Do you understand what I was trying to do last night?”

“If it wasn’t obvious, both Sakura and those Sound bastards explained it to me,” said Sasuke, who wasn’t looking at him. “I told you before, you don’t need to baby us. Especially me. We’re ninja, not children.”

“I’ll be sure to messily decapitate the first enemy ninja we see, then.”

Indra could feel Sasuke's anger bubbling to the surface, but wasn’t sure if it was directed at him. “You’re genin and I’m your instructor. I was trying to instruct.”

“Pretty sure deer and human innards don’t have much in common. I’ve seen both now, so lesson learned, got it?”

“Hn.” Indra also knew from long experience when to drop a subject in an Uchiha family argument, so they kept moving in silence with Kimimaro’s coughs and Tayuya’s argument with Naruto as background commentary. Indra was thinking about lungs, to be sure but not Kimimaro’s. Itachi’s.

“Madara’s” voice floated back to him across the years. “ _In grievous pain, dying, he prolonged his life with medication, all so he could orchestrate this battle with you_.”

After Kabuto had extracted his eyes, the Snake Sage had spirited Itachi’s body away and he later admitted, fed it to Zetsu. Itachi had never gotten a proper burial, but, more to the point, never gotten a proper autopsy. He remembered sitting in a Konoha hospital as for once, his daughter instead of his ex-wife, was lecturing him about his body.

“Papa, all I’m saying is, considering we only have two mainline genetic samples to go on, it’s better to be cautious.” Sasuke had eyed the machine he was supposed to climb inside of with a dubious eye. “It doesn’t look very safe.”

Sarada had pinched her nose and shoved her red glasses up to rest on her forehead. “You’re such a-“ but whatever her father was, Sasuke had never known because his daughter had switched to a different tack. “Dad, what was the average life expectancy of a ninja when you were growing up?”

“Thirty-five”

“And it’s now sixty-five plus,” she said with satisfaction. “My genetics work alongside Lightning’s advances in cellular therapy means we have treatments for dozens of the illnesses caused by chakra overuse and taxation on the body. Look, all my new Uchiha keep using Fire Jutsu in every single engagement because they want to keep proving they’re part of the clan. That means increased risk of lung cancer after using your breath to light fires every day for decades.”

“I don’t have lung cancer,” Sasuke had pointed out and even to his own ears, he had sounded petulant. “You don’t have lung cancer we know about, Dad. Finding out for sure is why I want you to get in that scanner so we can get a good look at your lungs. By Amaterasu’s flames, that’s probably why Uncle Itachi died!”

That had gotten him into the MRI, and he’d tried to absorb his daughter’s smug grin when she’d shoved her hands inside his heavily anesthetized chest and fixed his lungs two days later.

The Indra in the present-past looked over at Sasuke, who had mastered the ancient shinobi art of moving through terrain while sulking. _A discussion for another time, then._

“Heads up!” called Kidomaru, who’d bounded back to return to his place at the front of the pack. Indra fell back, but he caught Sasuke sneaking a glance at him. As it turned out, both Uchiha and Uzumaki were consumed by thoughts of past, present, and future for the rest of the day’s march.

________________________________________________

That evening, Indra for once, did not take the first watch after they’d devoured the remains of the roast deer sealed in Naruto’s scroll. (Two Uzumaki, an eternally ravenous Jirōbō, and six other mouths could in fact eat an entire deer after two days of hard travel) He’d barely slept the first night, taking watch after watch even as each genin sat close to the smoldering fire with him, watching the sleeping forms of the Sound ninja. There wasn’t exactly camaraderie between them, no there was too much stiff silence for that. But Indra was reasonably sure Tayuya had enough of an attachment to Naruto that she wouldn’t gut the rest of Team 7 in their sleep and kidnap him. Or perhaps that was a greater concern, hmmm.

Indra fell asleep leaning against a rock as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura pulled their fingers from their ears. “Tayuya-san,” whispered Naruto, “Are you sure he’ll stay asleep?”

The short girl lowered her flute and glanced over her shoulder to where the other members of the Sound Four were drooling onto their robes. “I sure fuckin’ hope so, otherwise they’ll kill each other while we’re gone. C’mon, hurry!” She moved away from the campfire, towards the sea of grassland and sparse woods the landscape had become as they left the rich soil of the Land of Fire behind.

Sakura looked up at the sickle in the sky and allowed a shiver of fear to curl its way up her spine, except, this was more the thrill of disobeying. Excitement, adventure. Indra had warned them to not be drawn away from the camp by the Sound Ninja. He’d also told Sasuke that a Blood Oath was not only illegal back in the Leaf Village but could complicate Naruto’s quest to be Hokage. The rest of Team Seven disagreed. Which was why they were going to sneak away from camp to perform a Blood Oath. “Um, Miss Tayuya?” she asked.

“What?”

“Doesn’t it have to be a full moon for this sort of thing?”

“You watch too many movies, kid. Any ol’ moon will do just fine.”

Sakura snapped her fingers in recognition, then cringed as both her teammates aggressively shushed her. “I just realized, you slur your words, just like Naruto does. Is that an Uzumaki thing?”

“It’s a grew-up in a bad neighborhood thing,” said Sasuke shortly as Tayuya shrugged. “I’ll let you know if I ever meet another Uzumaki.”

“I gotta tell her!” burst out Naruto, as Sasuke and Sakura turned to glare at him. “No, you don’t,” they chorused.

Tayuya laughed. “What, don’t tell me you think you guys can find all the scattered Uzumaki around the continent? Please, Mist’s been trying, and Lord Orochimaru searched too. None of us survived this long by being easy to find. But it’s a nice dream.”

“Why do you think we’re doing a Blood Oath,” said Sasuke as they moved through the grass. “My Uncle’s done all sorts of impossible things already. He killed your Lord Orochimaru, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, and we met Madame Juo and Karura-kami a few days ago,” Naruto added.

Sakura ticked off accomplishments on her fingers. “Killed a mad Sannin, resurrected the reputation of the nearly dead Uchiha, summoned a minor _kami_ , taught Naruto and Sasuke under the same roof for three years,-“

“Shut up bitch, we’re here!”

Sakura rolled her eyes but kept silent as Tayuya knelt at the edge of the small stream hidden in the grass. One of thousands of natural irrigation channels between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire, both Sound and Leaf had filled their water flasks here only hours before.

“Running water and a moon,” breathed Tayuya, “That’s all we ever needed, Mother.”

“That sounds so formal, y’know?” said Naruto. “I mean, if she’s the Goddess of the Ocean an’ all, can’t I just call her Mom?”

“Uncle calls on Amaterasu all the time, I don’t think the Gods really care either way, Naruto” said Sasuke. Tayuya sighed. “No fucking respect, these two. I swear, this is the least dignified Blood Oath ever.”

(This was false, because the Third Tsuchikage, upon being teleported into a pigsty by Minato Namikaze, had sworn a Blood Oath of eternal vengeance against the Namikaze while covered in pig shit, seventeen years ago.)

Sakura giggled, but they all sobered up as Tayuya blew the first opening notes on her flute. For once, it wasn’t a genjutsu, just an introductory passage of a few notes. As the only Uzushio artefact in their possession, it would do. They knelt in front of the stream.

“Who remains to keep the faith?” asked Tayuya.

“The Uzumaki,” called Naruto, his grin gleaming.

“The Uchiha,” answered Sasuke with determination.

Sakura pumped her fist. “The Haruno, too!”

Tayuya dipped her hands in the stream, where they flowed through a series of signs. She emerged bearing a perfect sphere of water in her hands. It floated, suspended by her will and chakra, so when her hands drew away, the sphere hung between them all.

“How will you forge your loyalty?”

“In friendship!” said Naruto.

“In battle,” said Sasuke.

“In marriage,” said Sakura.

The boys looked at her and both girls shared the kind of mutual despair known only to women lamenting the nature of men. “It’s not literal, you goobers,” she hissed, but all three of them were blushing anyway. Tayuya kept going.

“Prove the strength of your commitment, the unity of your Clans!”

Sasuke handed his teammates a kunai each, and they hesitated. The swaying grass stilled, and the world seemed to hold its breath.

Sakura pricked her finger and shoved her hand into the sphere of water. “No matter who calls, the Haruno will keep faith!”

Sasuke followed suit with a small cut on his thumb. “No matter who calls, the Uchiha will keep faith!”

Naruto, of course, just stabbed himself in the back of his hand and shoved it in, kunai and all. “No matter who calls, the Uzumaki will keep faith.”

Tayuya’s eyes were dark as they reflected the stars above them. “Why do you make this Blood Oath?”

“To start fixin’ stuff, y’know? Make the world a better place!”

“To destroy those who ruined us.”

“To help my friends!”

Tayuya’s voice raised in a command. It sounded deeper than it normally did, even with her Cursed Seal. “Show me!”

Team Seven grabbed for each other and their hands inside the globe of water came together, even as it rapidly darkened with blood. The kunai slipped out of the shallow wound in Naruto’s hand, his body pushing it out as it healed and fell to the dirt with a clatter.

“The Blood Oath is complete,” recited Tayuya and blew another few notes on her flute.

Sakura’s mouth dropped open, as did Sasuke’s. They’d been staring right at it, but the water, and the blood around their hands was gone. They inspected their fingers, only to find the skin smooth and unblemished.

“Holy fucking shit,” whispered Tayuya. She looked just as, if not more frightened than the children. She repeated the curse. Sakura grabbed the kunai she’d used seconds earlier. It was spotless. “Was it like this the last time you did this?”

“With my mom in a shitty little apartment above a casino? No fucking way!”

The teenager scrambled over Sakura on her hands and knees and drank deeply from the stream before spitting it out. “It’s salt water!”

Naruto dipped his hand and cautiously sipped, before making a face. “Salt, blech.”

Sasuke was twitchy, his hand on his sword hilt. “Should we drink it?”

Tayuya picked up her flute with shaking hands and shifted it from hand to hand, as if it were a live exploding tag. “I think we should all go back to camp and try not to think very hard about this.”

“Uh, thanks, I guess, Ocean Mom,” called Naruto into the sky. “If this was a blessing or something, thanks!”

If before, Sakura had felt the thrilling lure of the forbidden, now she felt like her parents caught her with a hand in the cookie jar. Consequences now seemed terrifyingly real. “Are-are we going to get in trouble?”

“We followed Tayuya’s lines exactly,” said Sasuke, who was storing away the kunai they’d used after inspecting each one. “If her mother remembered it correctly, we should be fine. You said it yourself, we rode on Karura two days ago. He’s a minor god.”

“But it doesn’t _feel_ the same does it?” protested Sakura. “He was like, an actual bird that Indra-sensei summoned, even if he could talk. This just…” she gestured helplessly, “happened!”.

“Whatever happened,” growled Tayuya, “we’re not gonna talk about it. You hear? Not a word to the others!” The genin nodded dumbly and Tayuya disappeared into the grass.

Some of their alarm faded when Sasuke tried to drink from the stream and had gone from salt water, to brackish, then, soon enough, back to fresh water. Whatever they’d done, it wasn’t permanent. Sakura hugged her knees while Naruto fell back and stared up at the stars with Sasuke. The pink-haired girl stared at the waving grass and felt her eyes begin to droop. “It really does kind of look like the sea.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“Mhmm”

She looked over at the two boys. “So how do you feel about all this?”

Sasuke shrugged into the dirt as Naruto put his hands behind his head. “Well, Tayuya’s pretty weird. She was super chatty today and agreed to do this whole Blood Oath thing, but now that it worked, she freaked. But she thought that gross bone guy’s thing was funny, when we freaked out, I mean.” His friends waited as Naruto struggled to put his thoughts in order. “I’m not sure if I like her very much.”

“You don’t have to like your family,” said Sasuke. “Part of that Blood Oath we swore was for vengeance, which counts my brother in too.”

Sakura’s head snapped around. “Wait, so you signed us up to kill your brother? I would’ve appreciated a heads-up first!”

“Are you going to stop me, just like Uncle?”

“No, dummy, we’re a team!” She threw a clump of dirt his direction and he batted it into the grass. “Just, some warning, that’s all.”

Sasuke chuckled. “I’ll give you plenty of that.”

Their teammate made a noise of protest. “But, isn’t vengeance and hatred an’ stuff like, what bad people do in the stories? I mean, the Kyuubi is all about hatred y’know? I don’t want to get involved in that kinda stuff if it means people back home are gonna look at me like that again.”

“Let ‘em try,” snarled Sakura as she punched her fist, “I’ll give them a genjutsu so horrible they’ll pee their pants, right there!” That set all three of them off and the weighty conversation was briefly derailed by juvenile laughter under the stars. But eventually, the laughter trailed off and they returned to stargazing.

“Naruto, how come you never get mad?”

“Huh?”

Sasuke rolled over to look at his friend. “When Tayuya was warning us about the Mist, how badly they want to hunt down the Uzumaki, all the horrible stuff, you didn’t get mad. I was angry, for you. I almost swore a Blood Oath right there in the middle of the road. But you never really said anything.”

“Well, besides my mom and Tayuya-san, I don’t really know any Uzumaki, and I haven’t seen the Mist Village do bad stuff, so it all felt kinda…” He waved a hand at the stars and Sakura supplied the word he was missing. “Abstract?”

“Yeah! And I do get mad, like when Sasuke ate the last dumpling back after sparring practice, or when you left me in that genjutsu for half an hour.”

She winced. “Sorry about that.”

“Yeah, Indra-sensei was really annoyed too.”

“That’s it!” Both heads turned to Sasuke, who sat straight up, ignoring the dirt in his hair. “You never get mad for yourself, just about other people. Not annoyed, which is what you were talking about, but like, actual anger!”

Naruto looked down at his fingers, which were pushing themselves together again. “I do! Sometimes,” he added vaguely.

“Name one time you got actually angry because of something that happened to you. Not annoyed, not grieving. When have you actually been angry?”

Naruto was silent for a long while. “Well, I’m not really supposed to.”

“Why?” fired back Sakura and Sasuke. Both of them were sitting up now, staring down at their teammate, who for once, looked unsure of himself. “Well, Jiji said the Nine-Tailed-“

“Forget the damned fox and the Hokage,” hissed Sasuke. “You’re allowed to be angry about what happened. It attacked, your parents died, my brother killed everyone, and the Third Hokage left us alone to drown until Indra Uchiha fell out of the sky and landed on us! Our Clans are almost gone, and we have to either try to fix them or let it all burn down! We’re allowed to be angry about it sometimes!”

“Yeah!” chimed in Sakura. “We should be mad! If you can’t ever get mad, it’s like you don’t care about anything!”

“Don’t say that!” cried Naruto, who looked close to some kind of angry sobbing as he shoved away from the riverbank to stride along its length. “I care about you guys, and my Clan, and the Leaf Village! I can’t be angry at everybody, because that would make me some kind of monster.”

He let out a breath, one he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. That was the sort of thing he could only think, never say, because-

Sakura engulfed him in a hug and now they were both crying. She shook him fiercely, even as her eyes pooled with tears. “You’re not a monster, you’re my friend! Hating people and getting angry when they fail you isn’t the same thing! I got angry when my parents forgot about our school trip, that didn’t mean I hated them. It’s okay, Naruto.”

Another pair of arms closed around them and if Sasuke’s hug was slightly stiff, his teammates didn’t mind. “We’re all allowed to be angry, sometimes. I think if we weren’t, we wouldn’t be human.” The metal of Sasuke's headband felt smooth against Naruto’s neck. “You’re one of the best humans I know. No matter what.”

“You guys…”

“Just shut up and enjoy the hug, idiot,” he snapped, but the tone was far fonder than the insult had any right to be.

Tayuya’s eyes followed the three shapes as they moved back into camp and slipped into their bedrolls, and only when she was sure they were truly asleep did she release the genjutsu. Indra, unsurprisingly, woke up first with a current of lightning chakra running across his form and a naked sword in his hand. “Omoikane’s breath, did we all fall asleep?”

Tayuya allowed a yawn to stretch her face. “Looks like it. Jirōbō, you lazy oaf, you’ve got first watch and second now!”

The small but quickly hushed squabble served its purpose as Indra discarded his concern and pulled his cloak shut. “Looks like we’re sharing it then.”

“Could you share some of your chakra, if we’re on watch?”

“Eat shit.”

Tayuya settled down for some actual sleep and for once, her dreams were pleasant. The Nine-Tails nosed around them anyway, out of curiosity. **_Tomorrow,_** _he said with satisfaction. **Tomorrow we shall see if the runt or the brat tries to keep their temper. The little petal will be especially entertaining. I couldn’t have said it better myself.**_

________________________________________

The next morning, both Tayuya and Indra ordered their teams into separate groups, and to stay there. They were barely half hour's brisk run from the Grass Village when both Naruto and Jirōbō started and moved to catch up with their leaders. "Sensei," said Naruto, "it smells like something's burning? Up ahead, I think." Indra nodded and relayed his words back to the rest of the team as shouts, and the ring of metal on metal began to reach their ears. Both groups burst from the tall grass into the middle of something that was absolutely not a mere border incursion. Volleys of shuriken came at them from both sides as Sakura brought up a wall of dirt to block several, while Indra and Sasuke swatted others out of the air with their weapons. Indra turned to put his children on his blind side, red eye scanning the battlefield for anyone in a Grass jacket who wasn't dead or dying. "Stick close, and be on your guard. Let's head for Grass and try to put some distance between us and any Stone shinobi."

He heard various sounds of affirmation from the rest of Team Seven as the Sound Four soared overhead, brandishing weapons and various semi-formed Curse Marks. Even over the din of battle, Tayuya and Jirōbō's bellowing was crystal clear. "A-Rank Shinobi for hire! A-Rank Shinobi for hire! Who's gonna pay us to kill your enemies?"

Something moved in the grass and Sakura sent most of her earth wall at it in one-two punches of hardened rock, sending more dirt fountaining into the sky as the impact tore a gouge in the grasslands. "It's a decent sales pitch," she noted dryly and was rewarded with one of Sasuke's smirks as his area of the grasslands erupted into flame. A portion of Inner Sakura who'd been monitoring her Earth Affinity felt something gather beneath them and launched the information past her conscious mind and into the realm of pure reaction. She and Sasuke yanked each other sideways just as the ground beneath them burst up to disgorge ten Hidden Stone ninja. Indra flung Naruto back out of the reach of twin kunai that would've gutted him, but took a short slash up the meat of his tendon for the trouble. Shallow.

The scattered members Team Seven were mostly unharmed, but the Mole Justu had worked as planned, because his genin were now separated from Indra on a very active battlefield.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I was going to have a long, formal scene meeting with the Kusakage, but I realized I've already done far too much chatty-chatty, time to get back to the choppy-choppy!
> 
> This chapter was a mix of a few things I wanted to cover, namely Sakura's increasing self-confidence and some of the things she can do with both her genjutsu and Inner Self, Sasuke forcing Naruto to address how he forgives perhaps too easily, and some Uzushio-foreshadowing. Also wanted to mention Future Sasuke's a techno-Luddite in Boruto, he refuses to use a cell phone bra computer, let alone an artificial arm. So his daughter has to bully him into an MRI machine she helped invent. Plus, the knowledge that Itachi's on a countdown to organ failure, because both he and Kimimaro both die of Plot Sickness. I gave Kimimaro there common explanation of tuberculosis and gave Itachi Lung Cancer, partially because the idea of long-term jutsu effects aren't really explored and long-term bodily stress caused by techniques could cause little problems to build into something much worse later in life, like with American Football players and encephalitis. Full disclosure, Kimimaro's internal structure is made of anime logic, so I just gave him a second, layered skeleton on top of his regular body which is how he can shoot finger bones and pull out a second spinal column and not collapse.  
> Also tried to make the Sound Four a mix of slightly relatable and just assholes, because they're semi-brainwashed teenagers doing contract ninja work without a village. Also an opportunity for someone to point out again that Naruto should stop simping for Konoha. (Indra's tried, but :/)
> 
> Hopefully the emotional moments land, cheers all!  
> PS: Kurama apparently knows about nuclear fusion in Boruto, reinforcing my decision to go Broad Strokes on that whole...thing.


	40. Mission to Grass: A Good Time for Bad Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Seven's diplomatic mission turns bloody.

One of the things Iruka hadn’t taught Team 7 in the Academy was that a battlefield was a noisy, chaotic place. Sasuke could hear battle-cries, the thump of detonating explosive tags, the whistling noise water or wind jutsu made as they carved through the air, it was auditory overload. But he’d been Sakura’s genjutsu guinea pig just as much as Naruto and Uncle Indra. The latter’s advice came back to him in that same quiet, calm voice they’d listened to for three years of instruction and admonishment. _Try to pay attention to everything and you will focus on nothing. Block out distraction, focus on what is important._ Sasuke took a deep breath and the world narrowed around him. Sakura was on his left, a poison-pink kunai between her teeth, her hands ready to weave genjutsu and ninjutsu in equal measure. Three ninja in the red and brown of the Land of Stone loomed above them and Sasuke’s eyes locked onto their leader’s. Tall, dark-skinned, and heavily muscled, the chunin was obviously in command from the heads that angled his way and the frown that spread across his face. “Leaf-nin, huh? When the hell did you get here?”

Sasuke allowed a smirk to cross his face, they had a decent chance of bluffing their way out of this. “An entire company just arrived, did you really think Konoha was so blind you could afford to move against Grass like this?”

The big man chuckled as Sasuke’s hands drifted away from his front, moving back, but carefully away from his sword. He felt Sakura edge backwards behind him and was quietly relieved she’d noticed. “Nice try kid, but we know the Leaf’s not here in force. Even if they were, you’re a genin. Surrender and we’ll just knock you out, nice and easy!”

He lunged forward on the last word and Sasuke jumped to meet him, both feet leaving the ground for a chest kick thatwould sent their opponent stumbling back. But he’d forgotten to account for the man’s superior reach and found his legs trapped in a hold that left squirming as the only possibility before he would be launched up into the air, an easy immobile target.

He felt Sakura’s fingers entwine with his own as she grabbed his hands in midair and dug in her heels. “Spin!” he shouted before forming signs. Serpent, Ram, Sakura’s fingers joined him as she recognized the pattern. Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.

Fire blasted out of his feet at point-blank range, causing the Stone chunin to scream and release him as his tunic caught fire and chestplate blackened. The instant his grip loosened, Sakura pivoted on her shoulder and swung Sasuke sideways as he angled his legs to continue his flight. An arc of orange fire swooped along in his wake as Sasuke planted a fire-enhanced kick in the face of the second Stone-nin who’d been trying to flank them. The third tackled them both and the genin lost their grip as Sasuke was flung into the mud and grass. He scrambled to his feet and drew his sword in the same breath as he saw Sakura’s half-formed jutsu break when the Stone chunin punched her in the face. “Stay down,” grunted the man as Sakura’s hands scrabbled at his face.

“Eat shit! She’d jabbed at his throat, because the Stone chunin coughed as his face twisted in anger. “Alright fine!” Two swift rabbit-punches had Sakura’s head slamming into the ground and Sasuke charged with vengeance on his lips. The sword rose and, as he channeled his chakra into it, sprouted three versions of itself from the hilt, all descending at slightly different angles, the hallmark of the Crescent Moon Dance. The Stone-nin saw him coming, of course and turned with a kunai in hand to block the blade. The first illusion dissipated on the edge of the kunai, as did the second, and the third strike landed on the man’s hand. Blood spurted and the Stone-ninja cried out as he made to leap into a fighting stance. At least, he tried, because Sakura’s shaking arms grabbed the sides of his brown flak jacket and pulled herself up into a brutal headbutt that shattered his nose. She fell back with clouded eyes before they sharpened again. She crawled away before finding her feet on shaky legs.

Sasuke’s own hands were steady, but he felt they should be shaking as he stared down at the enemy ninja, who’d gotten blood in his eyes and was trying to wipe it out and defend against the next blow he knew was coming. The vision of Kimimaro’s insides-turned-outside found its way to the front of his mind and he adjusted his stance for a killing strike across the man’s neck. But the Stone-nin had heard the movement and launched a flurry of shuriken, which Sasuke deflected with practiced ease.

He was still hesitating though, he could feel it. Killing someone was what shinobi did. This man was trying to kill them. Indra’s voice rang through his mind as something huge detonated in a wash of heat behind him. _Hesitation is defeat._

Images of a moonlit room and That Man with a sword equally as bloody looming behind his parents were brushed aside. Sasuke swung with all his strength and blade hit bone as his sword carved deep into the man’s arm. All his reserve was abandoned as Sasuke rained blows upon the enemy ninja. High left, middle left, high right, obvious overhand blows with no subtlety, just raw desperation and the need to finish this fight now. Now. Now!

The man froze in place as Sakura’s genjutsu hit and Sasuke had his opening. It took two strokes of his sword for the Stone ninja to die. He might’ve stood in the mud and grass staring at the body forever, but a shout of pain brought him out of it as he looked up to see Sakura moving back to him as she pulled a shuriken from the meat of her shoulder. “Two more,” she breathed as the burly Stone chunin and his comrade with the freshly burned face took in their dead. Something in their faces hardened and Sasuke swallowed hard, shoving down what he was feeling into his stomach, where it could burn unnoticed. Sakura filled her hands with pink kunai but didn’t take her eyes from the Stone ninja. “You ok?”

“I’ll deal,” he said shortly as his sword came back to a guard position. “Let’s survive this, first.”

She gave him a weak smile. “Yeah.”

They charged forwards, meeting the Stone ninja head-on and any hope of thought or conversation was gone. There was only action, reaction, and instinct. Sasuke’s sword fended off a torrent of earth, the blade batting away clumps of stone and soil before he clashed with the burly chunin in a blade lock. Sakura’s hands launched far more kunai than they held and the Stone ninja grimaced as three of the real kunai found their mark in his flak jacket and thigh. Ahigh kick broke her guard and suddenly it was all Sakura could do to avoid the hand axe coming for her head. Both Inner and Outer Sakuras hadn’t even seen him draw it!

Inner Sakura was suddenly shoved into the driver’s seat as her outer self took a step back. _Focus on the reactions, let me pick apart his defenses!_

**_Got it!_ **

Sakura’s actions became more fluid as her Inner self, finally unleashed on a real battlefield, let go of the restraints she’d kept for five years of semi-concious separation. Kunoichi were supposed to be beautiful and beguiling, not physical powerhouses. Her mother had never really believed she could be a ninja. Sasuke used to look down on her. That was the past, and Inner Sakura cast it aside like a shredded cloak as she sidestepped the axe and backflipped away from the follow-up kunai blow in the Stone-nin’s other hand. Both combatants were beathing hard.

“Not bad, kid,” said the Stone ninja as he juggled his weapons between his hands. “You’re reading me well. Too bad I’m not left-handed.” The next blow sheared away a clump of her ponytail and the twinned strike from the axe carved a layer of skin off her wrist.

 _Shit, shit, shit, just when I thought I had him!_ said Outer Sakura in frustration. _Okay, adjusting for increased reaction times, I need two more exchanges, hang on!_

Inner Sakura ignored the blood dripping off her and tilted her neck, just to hear the vertebrae pop. “Fine by me.” She jumped up, above the chunin’s guard and kicked out as her foot landed on his forearm. She used that leverage to gain further height, flinging the last of her kunai down in a diagonal that tore most of the man’s ear away. His own kunai skimmed past her armpit as the pain threw off his aim, but his hand found her ankle and brought Sakura down to earth in a slam that knocked the wind out of her and caused a minor crater in the Earth. She kicked out again and broke his hold, rolling sideways to avoid the axe. Inner Sakura recovered into a crouch and clutched her side. Real combat was proving more taxing than the hours of sparring she’d had with Naruto, Sasuke, and Indra-sensei, but she wasn’t going to give up now.

 _Okay, I’m ready. He’ll follow up with an overhand strike, then go for a kidney punch with his free hand. Give me control in 3, 2, 1_.

Inner Sakura allowed a relieved smile to form as she fell back into the depths of their shared mind. “It’s about time.”

Sidestep overhead blow again, duck below kidney punch, grab pink kunai from dirt. Spin around his left leg to avoid kick, stab back into stomach, pull-

Her train of thought was interrupted as she felt a hand grab the back of her quipao, dragging her back from what would have been a disemboweling move. Sakura lost her grip on the kunai and it flew up into the air. The twinkle of sunlight on dark metal caught the Stone ninja’s eye for an instant and he turned his head to dodge. Sakura’s heel kicked the kunai and drove it through his jaw. The grip on her slackened immediately as the shinobi howled in pain and Sakura cringed in mid-air. “Sorry!” she called out as her hands found the ground and turned a fall into a smooth, if painful recovery.

“Unngh, ou hacking gitch!” slurred the Stone ninja as blood poured from his mouth.

Sakura’s hands moved through several signs as she kept talking. “It’s ok, promise!”

His eyes bulged and he clutched at his chest and face in equal measure as the poision on her kunai went into effect, but it soon smoothed out into peaceful bliss. “Chapter One: Playing Possum Jutsu” murmured Sakura as he collapsed to the ground. He would die painlessly, in his sleep as her poison stopped his heart.

Five minutes earlier:

Indra kept his face expressionless as his eye roved over the sea of red and brown ninja spread out before him. Well, seven wasn’t very many, but they blocked his sight of Sakura and Sasuke, which sent his blood pressure spiraling upwards anyway. Several of them gasped or looked away as his Sharingan met their own gazes and he took the opportunity to lock three of them into a subtle genjutsu that slowed everything they perceived by a second and a half. One broke out immediately and elbowed the middle-aged woman beside him. “That eye, that’s the Sharingan!”

“My name is Indra Uchiha of the Leaf,” he said, letting his voice carry with a calm he did not feel. “You are trespassing on the territory of a Leaf ally and are interfering in my mission. Leave or face the consequences.”

There was some whispering, but the jonin opposite him sniffed imperiously and flung her hair over her shoulder. “If the rumors I’ve heard are true, he’s barely half an Uchiha. Haguro, Kotene, cover me, we’ll send the genin back with his head.”

Indra bared his teeth. “You’ll try.”

A lightning-enhanced blade carved through the first ninja’s stone armor jutsu without even slowing and he kicked the second one sideways. “Naruto, be careful!”

“Aww, don’t worry about me, sensei!” chirped the orange-clad genin, as he swiped at the Stone ninja twice his age. I’ll be fine.”

“Focus!”

A spear of earth was shattered to powder by Foxfang, as were the next three that followed. Indra’s hand formed the signs for a Vacuum Cutter that he spat from his mouth in the direction of the Stone jonin, followed by an exploratory stab she blocked with a segmented metal blade. “Come on then, half-breed, show me something memorable! Something that can make me better!” She disengaged as the blade separated and expanded into dozens of segments connected by a thin, diamond-hard rope. They whirled around her as the other Stone ninja advanced behind its bladed cover. The tip launched at Naruto and Indra caught it in a parry that wrapped the first three segments around the blade of his sword. “Predictable,” she snorted as he channeled lightning chakra down the blades in an attempt to shock her. Both fighters pulled on their weapons, seeking to break the deadlock as Indra heard the crack of bone and the sound of a body hitting the grass on his blind side.

“Yeah! No knees means he can’t fight, right? Didja see, Indra-sensei? Didja?”

“I’m a little busy here, Naruto,” Indra ground out as he angled his sword down and wrenched it free from the whip-blade before jumping above a Mudslide jutsu that sank more preoccupied Stone ninja up to their hips.

A voice behind him called out, “Grass to me! Rally to me! The Leaf is here!”

Indra noticed the Stone jonin scowl and pressed forward. “Sorry to shatter your expectations.”

“Shatter this!”

The broadside of Earth spears were ignored as Indra poured Lightning chakra into a cloak around him to enhance his speed. They weren’t nearly fast enough to touch him as he ended his charge behind the Stone jonin. “We’re done here,” he said shortly as he brought the pommel of his sword down on her neck, breaking it between the third and fourth vertebrae with a crunch.

The surrounding Stone ninja blanched or cried out in shock as their leader landed in the mud and Indra straightened up. “Anyone else?”

“Go right ahead,” called a voice and Indra spun to see a burly Stone chunin with a knife to Sasuke’s throat. His younger self gave a weak smile. “Sorry Uncle, we did our best.”

True to his word, the Stone Chunin’s uniform was singed and blackened with fire while his arm and face were covered in cuts from Sasuke’s blade. The Uchiha heir had simply been overwhelmed. Dozens of Stone ninja were falling back, congregating behind the obvious second-in-command with the valuable hostage. Indra did a rough head-count, even with the wounded, that was at least forty ninja with flack jackets, not a genin among them. “Iwagakure, form up,” the hostage-taker rumbled. “we’re done here.”

“Let the Leaf genin go,” came the authoritative voice from behind Indra’s shoulder, “and you will have safe passage out of Kusagakure.”

“The word of a weak boy,” snarled the Stone chunin as he jostled Sasuke, the knife drawing a shallow red line across his throat before he stopped. Indra and Naruto snarled as one and the tension on the grasslands went up another notch.

“A boy who’s been dismantling your assault for the past week,” said the voice. “Hardly worthy of such disrespect. Your force has served its purpose, now go crawling back to Ohnoki and tell him I am not nearly as weak as he expects.”

“You don’t get to give ord-AAAGH!”

One of the shorter Stone ninja drove a kunai into the chunin’s back and dived for the ground alongside Sasuke. “Sensei, now!”

Indra pointed his stump and his Mangekyo Sharingan at the Stone contingent and cried bloody tears. Black fire writhed into existence where his left hand had been, growing into a five fingered-shape that clenched into a fist.

“Flame Control: Black Hand!”

The black flame washed over Sakura and Sasuke’s heads as it spread in a whoosh of fire and screams. Enemy shinobi flailed about with black silhouettes as the flames devoured them, while most simply fled, screaming or promising vengeance.

Once they were gone or dead, Indra let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and the flames died out.

“Sasuke! Sakura!” Naruto ran to his friends and pulled them both into a bear hug, causing them to wince as he pulled on their injuries.

“Seriously, could you hold off on that for two seconds, Naruto?”

Sakura chimed in. “Oh come on Sasuke, we’re all alive.” How’d you even get captured anyway?”

Her teammate blushed and began digging through his pack to avoid meeting her eyes. “Kicked meintheballs”

“Sorry?”

“He kicked me in the balls, and hit me with an Earth Paralysis jutsu when he saw Uncle take out that old lady.” The Uchiha dug out a first-aid kit and a water canteen. “I’ll live. Show me your arms, that’s a lot of blood.”

He said it without thinking, but it caused all three of the genin to stare at one another. Naruto had a few tears in his pants and his jacket was nearly ruined, but was untouched. Sakura’s arms were indeed covered in blood and her right shoulder was bleeding a slow but steady trickle into her quipao, which was bunched around the wound in an attempt to stem the bleeding. Sasuke was covered in shallow cuts and had a gash just above his ear that was tangling blood into his hair and headband. Naruto gave a shaky laugh. “We look badass, y’know?”

Sasuke gave a small huff that they all understood to be of relief more than exasperation. “I’m just glad you’re both alive.”

Sakura punched his shoulder, “Says the ninja who almost got his throat cut, now c’mon, let’s patch each other up.”

As the teenagers began tending to one another’s wounds, Indra allowed the lightning chakra around him to dissipate and scanned the battlefield. Stone ninja were fleeing everywhere he looked, or at least “withdrawing in good order” and his Sharingan showed that no Stone corpses nearby were playing dead. He sighed in relief and turned to see a squad of six battle-worn Grass ninja in beige and black arrayed around a young man in white combat gear edged in green. The young man stepped forward and extended a hand. “So you’re Indra Uchiha? I’m Dozuro Kado, the Kusakage.”

Indra shook his hand and inclined his head, tamping down the surprise on his features. “The honor is mine, Lord Kusakage. Your assistance and concern for my genin was appreciated, if unexpected.”

The young man put his hands on his hips as they surveyed the battlefield. “I could say the same of you, Uchiha-san. We didn’t expect you for another week, perhaps two.”

“My genin wanted an early start,” said Indra dryly. Madame Juo’s acquaintance was not a boon in more respectable places. “And I expected to be dealing with your father, Kokushibo Kado.”

The Kusakage glared at him, but relaxed when he saw Indra’s gaze held no hostility, simply cool assessment. “My father passed away four days ago,” he said simply.

“Did Stone-“

“Not that we can tell,” said the Kusakage in a voice carefully devoid of tone. He turned to his fellow Grass shinobi. “Michikatsu, Tamayo, take these two to the Intel squad,” he kicked an unconscious Stone ninja with Foxfang’s imprint on his face, and another with shattered knees who’d passed out from shock. The Grass ninja shouldered the captives and disappeared into the grass. “Lord Kusakage,” interjected one of the older ninja, “perhaps we should return to the Village before dealing with this Konoha delegation. It would be best-“

“If you did not undercut me in front of our guests? Yes, it would,” said the Kusakage acerbically. “Jonin Commander, get me a full disposition of our forces, down to the number of wounded and dead per squad and think upon your failure to anticipate this attack. You too, _Spymaster_.”

“As you wish, Lord Kusakage.” The Jonin Commander bowed and disappeared in a ripple of grass, followed shortly by another ancient. The remaining two Grass ninja, presumably body guards were, Indra noticed, significantly younger than the rest of the group had been. The Kusakage himself was a teenager and Indra silently appreciated the Sharingan’s \perfect memory as the Konoha intelligence file drifted to the front of his mind.

 _Dozuro Kado, Age seventeen. Exceptional intelligence and strategic acumen, personally mercurial. Kusagakure nationalist, he’d been the one to push for tariffs on Konoha goods after the theft of Kusagakure’s tax shipment years before and had support in the Kusakage ‘s court. Evidently not uniform support, though._ Indra was silent as he weighed the situation Team Seven had blundered into, trying to weigh if Dozuro’s opinion and newly-promoted position made him more or less likely to accommodate their request. In the meantime, best establish common ground. “We have that in common, Lord Kusakage.”

“What?”

“Institutional elders who love sticking their nose in other’s business.”

“I’ll admit, my father was surprised when he’d heard Shimura Danzō had taken the field again.”

“So was I,” Indra and the Kusakage shared a brief moment of commiseration before the younger man’s face hardened. “But rest assured, Indra Uchiha, I will not have what happened to the Land of Rice Paddies befall the Land of Grass. Even if you are here on a diplomatic mission, I’ll give you the same message I gave to that Stone ninja. We’re done being trampled on”

“Your tariffs made that message perfectly clear, my Lord. We originally did come here in peace.”

The Kusakage’s eyebrow arched. “Originally?”

“I did just incinerate several Stone ninja.”

“Considering the circumstances, I’m prepared to count that as a diplomatic overture towards the Grass.”

“Then you will enjoy what we have brought to restore proper relations between our villages.”

“Milord!” Dozuro perked up as a beige-clad runner approached. “Madea, correct?”

The girl nodded. “There’s been an incident at the command tent. Captain Matsoro enlisted several mercenaries to bolster our forces and they’re demanding to be paid now.”

The Kusakage nodded. “Lead the way. Uchiha-san, come.”

Indra held up a finger and moved over to where his genin were recuperating, his practiced eye noting the bandages and mentally accounting for wounds. All three looked like they’d been through the ringer and he knelt down, his hand on Sakura’s shoulder. “Everyone alright? The Kusakage wants us to move.”

He received a chorus of assent and they rose to follow Dozuro Kado and his bodyguards. On the walk, Indra examined his students, cataloguing physical and psychological injuries as he went. Sasuke had the most bandages, but walked with determination and a steady stride. His younger self could easily justify killing if it was to save his friends, but Indra hoped that justification wasn’t too easy. He mentally added that to his list of “things to talk about on the return trip”. Sakura had stabbed a man in the back but again, her teammate was in danger, so she could easily justify it to herself. Mrs. Haruno was another story, but hopefully Sakura woud avoid details. From what he could tell, Naruto alone hadn’t killed anyone. Indra wasn’t sure how to feel about that. In his first life, Team Seven had managed to avoid killing actual human beings for the entirety of their genin careers and now to out of the three had blood on their hands. Not to mention the foolishness with Kimimaro several nights ago…

 _Please tell me you didn’t traumatize us all over again,_ said the adult Sakura in his head as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Indra was going to argue, but then realized that a) he would be arguing with himself and b) he should be speaking with the actual Sakura instead.

“You guys ok?”

“You already asked us that, Uncle. We’re fine, patched ourselves up and everything, see? We wouldn’t be walking otherwise.”

Naruto’s smile was self-satisfied and carried a great deal of his normal cheer, which was something. “Awww, Indra-sensei, were you worried about us?”

“Yes,” said their master as he ruffled first Naruto, then Sakura’s hair to their half-hearted protests. “This was our first field mission and we wandered onto a battlefield, then got separated. Of course I’m worried. What did you think?”

“I thought you trusted us to handle things on our own,” said Sasuke, his pride rankled.

“I do, but…” Indra dragged a hand through his hair and didn’t care that one of the Kusakage’s bodyguards was drifting closer to listen. “When I said I’d decapitate the next enemy-nin we met, I was being sarcastic. That wasn’t advice.”

“It’s not like I enjoyed it!” burst out Sasuke as Sakura and Naruto came to his defense. “Yeah, we saved each other’s lives today. We thought you’d be proud!”

Indra turned on his heel to stare at his genin. “I am proud! Gods, you three have shown that every minute of the last three years training you was well-spent and I’m so glad you’re ok. But you killed people today. I want to be sure you did so for the right reasons. The regret-“

He put his hand on Sasuke’s shoulder and met their eyes in turn.

“People can justify anything, no matter how horrible or how many deaths it causes, if they think it serves some greater good. Someday, maybe the Leaf Village, maybe your comrades, someone will tell you ‘Kill this person’. Even if it’s an order, it’s up to you to decide if that’s something you can take on your shoulders. You can always say no.”

“That doesn’t sound like advice for a good ninja,” said Sasuke, who was reminded about old arguments about vengeance. Indra’s quiet response silenced him nonetheless.

“It’s not advice to make you a good ninja, it’s advice to make you a good person. That’s all.”

_Amaterasu’s fire, this is the second time in your life you’ve had this conversation with your kids and you’re bombing it again._

“We’re here,” said the Kusakage and Indra pulled himself together as the white-clad shinobi strode into the tent, followed by Team Seven and his bodyguards. Despite being teenagers, Jirōbō and Kidōmaru were doing an excellent job looming over the Grass jonin next to the planning table who was getting chewed out by Tayuya in strident tones. “I said, ‘going rate’s one hundred and four thousand yen an hour, an’ you said sure thing, then I ripped that Stone bastard’s arm off and you kept nodding. Kidomaru, did I fucking stutter when I said that?”

“No, ma’am,” said the spider-man, failing to hide his smirk.

“Now I think that constitutes a fuckin’ agreement for services rendered, don’t’cha think?”

“Alright, what’s the problem Captain Matsoro?” asked the Kusakage as he swept in and a majority of the Grass-nin knelt. Some, notably, were slower to do so than others. The Sound ninja remained standing and Tayuya barely paused in her tirade.

“The point, Kusakage, sir, is that your forces, one of whom was a jonin sub-commander authorized to make battlefield decisions, agreed to pay us money if we fought for Grass, and I’m not seeing any cash right now.”

“Your services are appreciated, Miss-?”

“Tayuya. This is Jirōbō, Kidōmaru, and Kimimaro. Sir.”

“Well met. However, this is a rapid response unit I threw together, not the First National Bank. We can negotiate the terms of your contract once I finish my business with these Konoha shinobi.”

Tayuya stalked over to a chair next to Kimimaro, who was coughing into a purple handkerchief. “Fine. But I charge by the hour, just so ya know.”

The Kusakage chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now, Indra Uchiha of the Leaf, you mentioned you had brought something to restore relations between the Leaf and Grass and my father’s Councilor mentioned something about remanding a Grass civilian to your custody?”

“Naruto, your scroll?”

His genin pumped his fist and with a flourish and a puff of smoke, soon produced the very heavy chest sealed inside his weapon scroll. As before, it materialized several inches off the ground and everyone in the tent could feel the heavy impact it made through their feet. Indra addressed the Kusakage, but his eye noticed the reaction as Naruto opened the lid to reveal the telltale gleam of gold. “As requested by your damiyo, the interest payments for the tariffs administered in Year 64 of the Modern Era, delivered in the spirit of compromise and acknowledgment.” That was the closest he could get as the Leaf’s official representative to “Sorry we let your money get stolen,” and the hungry reactions of the Grass shinobi and Kusakage showed they did in fact need the gold. For what, he didn’t care, but Indra produced Danzō’s scroll from his cloak pocket and held it up to draw everyone’s attention. “Secondly, to secure the safe return and remandation of Karin Uzumaki and her mother to their remaining family in the Leaf Village, Naruto Uzumaki, the Leaf is prepared to offer-“

“You fucking cunt,” hissed Tayuya as Kidomaru held her back. “You scum, you clan-traitorous Uchiha, you didn’t tell me-“

The Kusakage cleared his throat, but she kept going. “Tayuya-san, hold your tongue,” muttered Jirobo with a nervous look at the Kusakage whose expression grew more thunderous with every expletive that passed her lips. “You half-blooded, ignorant, two-timing, chicken-hawk…”

“Captain Matsoro, please silence her,” said the Kusakage and the Grass Jonin’s hands flashed through signs too quickly for even Indra to make out. Something invisible passed over the Sound ninja and Tayuya’s voice fell silent. Team Seven watched as she kept speaking, then graduated to screaming, before slumping back against Kidōmaru’s arms and settled for mutely venomous looks. The Kusakage’s voice remained calm and polite, commanding attention. “Indra-san, please continue.”

Indra snuck a look at Naruto, who had folded his arms and was glaring at Tayuya. “As I said, for the remandation of the two Uzumaki I spoke of to Councilor Sorai, the Leaf would offer you this.” The scroll disappeared in a puff of smoke and Indra held out the sheathed form of Orochimaru’s Kusanagi blade as the entire room gasped. The Kusakage stepped forward, expression wonderous. “Is this really…”

Indra presented the blade for his inspection. “The Land of Grass’s sacred treasure, recovered from Orochimaru no Yashogoro’s corpse at no small cost.”

A calloused hand took the handle and unsheathed the blade in a whisper of oiled silk on steel. “The Leaf’s previous response to our inquiries on this matter were less than truthful, it seems.”

“Orochimaru guarded this sword jealously,” lied Indra. “Even in death, there were a great many sealing jutsu keyed to his touch that had to be disarmed. It would not do for the Kusakage to receive his ancestral treasure and be poisoned in the same moment, would it?”

The purple snake-eye covering the brilliant sapphire in Kusanagi’s hilt popped off at the Kusakage’s touch. “Not to mention aesthetic considerations,” Indra added. It was a weak joke, but it got a chuckle out of most of the room and some scattered cheers. The Kusakage motioned for space and Indra, as well as most of the surrounding Grass -nin backed away. A few experimental swings proved the blade as finely balanced as it had always been and, with a pulse of chakra, it shot forward, passing through the tent flaps with a wind in its wake, prompting a distant “Sage’s shit!” from a passing chunin. The blade withdrew into a “normal” length and the Kusakage sheathed it with a nod of satisfaction. “This does appear to be the genuine article, but I request you accompany me to Kusagakure for our priests to verify its authenticity beyond all doubt. I believe it is also where Councilor Sorai has your Uzumaki. As I said before, we weren’t expecting you for some time, but the Grass appreciates the measures you have taken in our mutual interest. Tamayo will show you to your tent, we will depart at-“ The boy looked to his left, “Commander Sora, how much time will you need to wrap things up here?”

“Two hours, sir,” said the older man with a veneer of respect.

“Very good. We will depart at noon. Madea, find our guests a tent and some provisions.”

As the Leaf ninja filed out, Naruto looked back, intending to say goodbye to the Sound ninja, but the venom in those eyes stopped him cold. Tayuya might’ve been silenced, but the sense of betrayal radiating from her needed no explanation. “Sorry,” he whispered, but Tayuya’s response was clear even without reading her lips. “You promised.”

_______________________________

Indra flopped down next to Team Seven’s tent and took a deep breath of the grass. They were in the shade of a small copse of trees, away from the mud and churned earth of the battlefield and he could already hear the gentle susurration of the grasslands calling him to sleep. Perhaps using that much chakra on his Amaterasu had been wasteful, but on the other ethereal hand, there had been quite a few Stone ninja. And they’d also harmed his students. So a nap wasn’t out of the question.

“Sensei, what are you doing?”

Indra waved his hand in the direction of the tent. “Taking a nap, I suggest you do the same. Or stay awake and discuss the morality of killing amongst yourselves.”

All three genin looked at each other, then back in the direction of the command tent, then back at their sensei. Naruto broached the subject. “Aren’t you worried about the Sound ninja? Tayuya-san looked like she wanted to murder us.”

“Also, I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to learn those words,” added Sakura.

“We’re under the Kusakage’s protection as guests,” said Indra. “Not to mention they still haven’t been paid by Grass yet. No, when they go after us, it’s going to be after we’ve met the other Uzumaki. It’s like I haven’t spent the last two nights constantly awake in case she tried to kidnap Naruto out of some twisted sense of family.”

The genin were sweating bullets, but Indra had pulled his empty sleeve over his eye and did not see. There was a silent but furious conversation composed entirely of hand gestures and a few genjutsu, but Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat. “W-Would she really do that?”

His sensei yawned. “Without a doubt. Now I’m taking advantage of this brief window between guarding Uzumaki A from B, and the soon-to-arrive-Uzumakis C and D.”

They waited until he was assuredly asleep, (Sakura cast a genjutsu to be doubly sure) and then the discussion began.

“We gotta tell him!” Naruto, of course. His teammates looked at him like he was insane. Sasuke said something to that effect. “If we tell my Uncle we made a Blood Oath in secret with an enemy ninja, and something answered us, he’ll skin us alive. Or worse, make us train with Might Guy’s team.” All three shivered, phantom pains from grueling exercise routines returning with a vengeance.

Sakura shook her head. “We still don’t even know what exactly happened. Maybe your other family, Karin and her mom might know more. Let’s wait and ask them.”

Naruto flopped back onto his bedroll. “Ughhh, this sucks! I feel all gross about this too!”

His pink-haired teammate held up her hands, which were still slightly reddish. “You weren’t the one with blood under your fingernails, quit whining!”

He cringed. “Sorry, sorry,” and Sakura’s expression softened at once. “I mean, the way she was lookin’ at us in there, it made me feel like a traitor, y’know?”

Sasuke had folded his hands in front of his face as he thought, heedless of the rough bandages. “Our Blood Oath wasn’t specific to her, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m sure we’d know if we broke it. They’re about aiding the Clan as a whole, not just one person.”

“Welllll….” Naruto was tapping his fingers together again and Sasuke found himself unfolding from his seat to wrap his hands around Naruto’s, quieting him. “It’s okay,” his mouth said, echoing the half-remembered instructions of a coroner long ago. “Deep breaths, okay?”

They breathed in unison and Sakura shuffled closer to join them, mirroring the entwined pose they’d held during the Blood Oath. This time, however, Sasuke felt a prickle of irritation and was surprised. Where had that come from? But it did not matter, so he ruthlessly squashed the impulse. Soon enough, Naruto’s breathing calmed and he grinned back at his teammates. “Thanks a bunch, guys! Sorry about that.”

Sakura nudged his shoulder with her fist in a slow-motion punch. “You don’t need to apologize to us for anything, Naruto.”

“Well, you guys were in trouble earlier and Indra-sensei an’ I weren’t there to help. Then Indra-sensei was makin’ a big deal about death and it was all-“ he waved his hands in the air as his teammates nodded.

“Messy,” said Sakura as she made a face.

“Mnhm,” grunted Sasuke in agreement.

Naruto’s voice was hesitant. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

Sakura hesitated at Naruto’s searching gaze. “Maybe later,” she admitted. “I might take sensei’s example and sleep on it.” She lay down on her side, back to them as her hands moved into the Playing Possum jutsu and the pink-haired girl was asleep in seconds.

Naruto pouted. “It’s so unfair how she can do that. It always takes forever for me to fall asleep.”

“Don’t remind me,” snorted Sasuke, his tone lightening as they moved on to less weighty subjects. “When I get the Sharingan, I bet I can just do that to myself with a mirror. Now, would the Sharingan be able to see through its own genjutsu? Or is that the Caster’s Paradox again? Wait, why are you looking at me like that?”

Naruto was looking at Sasuke as if he was speaking the language of Northern Lightning Country instead of Common. “Whaddya mean, ‘when you get the Sharingan’?”

The Uchiha resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “The first time I activate the Sharingan, I’m sure I’ll notice it. The Clan texts say it’s very distinct, even for an idiot like you. I’d assumed it would activate today, considering we were in life-threatening danger, but it’s a dojutsu, it’s not exactly a science-“

“Sasuke,” interrupted his friend, looking torn between seriousness and exploding into laughter, “you’ve had the Sharingan for years.”

“Bullshit,” breathed the Uchiha as Naruto looked affronted. “I’m serious! Sometimes when you get mad or super passionate about something, your eyes go red and your hair puffs up a little bit. It’s intimidating, y’know?”

Sasuke dove into Sakura’s pack next to him, ignoring the granola bars, the pack of tampons, and fishing out a small black makeup case. He rooted through it until he found the small compact mirror and held it up to his face.

Dark unremarkable eyes, same as always. Sasuke thought about throwing the mirror at Naruto and decided against it. “I know you’re trying to lighten the mood Naruto, but that’s a pretty bad joke.”

He could almost see the lightbulb go off above Naruto’s head. “Well, at least I’m not the one who got captured on our very first mission.” Sasuke pitched the mirror at Naruto’s infuriatingly smug face and the blonde caught it as he stuck his tongue out. “Nyeeeh, now who’s the idiot?”

“Naruto, you can’t annoy the Sharingan into activation, it doesn’t-“

His friend put on a breathy falsetto. “Oh, what would Ino-chan say if she saw her precious Sasuke-kun like this, all beaten up and rugged, I bet she’d just throw herself into your arms like-“

Sasuke grabbed what remained of Naruto’s jacket and hauled him forward, glaring directly into those damnably cheery blue eyes. “Shut up!” he hissed through his teeth.

Naruto flipped open the mirror and Sasuke’s mouth dropped open.

A glowing red eye with a single red tomoe stared back at him. He shifted the mirror, same thing on the other side. He fell back onto his knees, fingers running through his hair as pieces began to fall into place. How he’d always been able to deflect volleys of shuriken in training with his uncle, how they seemed to move slowly through the air, how he was able to recall arguments in crystal clarity, or phrases word-for-word.

“Since when?” he breathed, and Naruto chuckled as he slung an arm around Sasuke’s shoulder. “I dunno, since forever. Well, since you smashed into my window and I kicked your butt under my kitchen table. Or maybe it was during that whole formal petition to the Hokage, or…”

“I have the Sharingan,” said Sasuke in wonderment.

_I wonder what I could remember…_

_A Stone chunin’s face frozen in genjutsu before his sword came down. Shuriken spinning past his face in slow motion. A crowded Konoha street bathed in sunset and the clatter of ceremonial armor Itachi’s face as he looked back at Sasuke, the utter devastation etched into every line of his face._

Sasuke slammed the door to his memory shut, suddenly exhausted. His uncle (technically half-brother, but they’d decided on Uncle) had mentioned the Sharingan’s photographic memory was a double-edged sword. Sasuke realized Naruto was waving a hand in front of his face.

“Hey, uh, your special eyes didn’t break on you did they?”

Sasuke blinked and felt a pull on his chakra ebb, then stop altogether. He’d never even noticed the sensation after hundreds of hours of sparring. Sakura’s mirror revealed dark eyes once more, so he stored it back in her bag.

He’d only been nine, exhausted and close to passing out. Itachi had used the Tsukuyomi on him. There were any number of ways that memory could have been a lie.

“Yeah,” he sighed, folding his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling of their tent.

“They kinda did.”

Naruto patted his knee in a vaguely comforting manner and went to sleep. Despite the feelings roiling inside his head, the events of the day caught up with him and soon enough Sasuke followed suit.

___________________________________________

_The Nine-Tailed Fox chuckled_ **. _Ahh, now this is what Kushina used to call a target-rich environment._** _He took a deep breath, savoring the heady aromas of blood, pain, fear, and hatred that marked any battlefield. **How long has it been since I tasted war? Madara’s little tantrum barely scratched the itch. But first** …_

_The Kyuubi batted around the shrieking ball of nightmares that assailed Sasuke Uchiha’s mind. **I still have my agreement with your half-brother** , he mused. **But considering you’ve killed your first man, I think you can stand for a few more sleepless nights, Sasuke Uchiha.**_

_The Fox ripped away a majority of the black substance, but allowed the remainder to scurry back into Sasuke’s dreaming mind, where it unfurled into a nightmare._

_“Sasuke, wait!”_

_“Who-“splat._

_Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha held up their hands in surrender as Sasuke and Itachi cut them down._

_The Nine-Tails laughed, a dark amusement of vindication. **Guilt and suffering, good. Let that be a lesson, Uchiha,** he said as he stalked away, **not to be too proud of death.**_

****

_The next mind he approached was also dreaming, but even in sleep, Sakura Haruno’s mind guarded her. The avalanche of flame, fangs, and thought approached the slight form of Inner Sakura and breathed on her. The spirit endured the smell of ancient blood, ozone, and battery acid without flinching, though she did sprout four additional arms from her shoulders. “You’re cheery today,” she commented._

**_You have brought me to a battlefield, how could I not be?_ ** _said the Fox. **There is less wickedness here than I expected, but there is enough. I shall judge them appropriately, as is my role. Those you travelled with fairly reek of it.**_

_Inner Sakura looked slightly uncertain, but attempted to hide it behind a scoff. “Yeah, those Sound assholes were something else. On the plus side, I got a bunch of new curse words. Shame Outer Sakura’s never going to use them.”_

**_You seek agreement and thus, validation, from the Kyuubi no Kitsune?_ **

_Inner Sakura bristled, then deflated almost immediately. “No way! Except…”_

_Kurama settled his head on his paws. **This should be amusing…**_

_“We’re not wicked, right? Sakura, Sasuke and I killed those people.”_

_One vast claw dislodged a shred of suffering from between two fangs and flicked it in her face. Inner Sakura gasped and flailed as the toxic substance burned her, before she tossed it away, where it wriggled off into the darkness. **And there is the proof you desire, little petal-shadow.**_

_“That fucking hurt!” she snapped._

**_Truth often does. Suffering harmed you in turn, you did not drink it up like a summer wine. You did not glory in death. You have not held the spine of the enemy in your bloody hands to terrify your foes. You have not executed babes to horrify a village into compliance. You are so sickeningly pure still._ ** _Kurama snorted, blowing Inner Sakura’s hair back from her face. **I am not here to assuage the doubts of a flower petal, when there is more pressing business.**_

_“You still visited though.” Inner Sakura grinned and folded all six of her arms in a confident stance as the Nine-Tailed Fox rose and walked away. If he heard her, he did not deign to reply._

_Inner Sakura shrugged and turned back to the small black box next to her. “Let’s take that memory of puncturing a man’s lung and just blur the details, shall we?”_

_The Nine-Tails glanced back at the orange chakra trailing back to Naruto Uzumaki’s mind and his prison. The runt had no such nightmares, no psychological quirks, no inner torment. Guilt and failing to protect his friends, yes, excitement at proving himself in battle, eager anticipation to meet Karin Uzumaki soon enough. **Yes, he’s on the right track,** crooned the Fox. **I’ll** **just add a little…encouragement.**_

Naruto’s impression of Kurama, indeed, most of Team Seven’s was that the Nine-Tailed Fox was a massive brute, a beast that hungered for anger and torment, suffering and death. But one hundred and ten years locked inside Uzumaki had taught him some measure of subtlety. The boy was spiritually deaf and dumb even now, scarcely gave Kurama any conscious thought compared to the mystery of the Uzumaki Clan. That meant his whispers would barely be noticed. **_What if you were just a little stronger? What if you’d been there to help your friends? What if you’d helped them kill? How would that make you feel? Killing to protect your family?_**

_An image of Kushina, fangs and chains bared, his stolen chakra rippling around her on the battlefield. **Kushina was mighty in so many ways. Don’t you want to be just like her? Just imagine…**_

_The Kyuubi no Kitsune left Naruto to his dreams, content with the seed he planted as the paper tag on golden doors folded a single corner away from its prisoner. **Let’s see now…a sadist chunin here, the soul of a rapist over there.** Kurama paused, contemplating the wriggling thing between his claws. It had been one of the Stone fools Indra Uchiha had burnt to death, but the damned thing refused to admit it was dead. **Ordinarily, this is Matatabi’s job,** he mused. **Guiding lost souls to their afterlife was her remit, but, considering his crimes**. He idly tapped one claw, ignoring the shrieks of the soul as he impaled it again and again. **I suppose rapist’s souls would fall under mine.** He tossed the soul down his vast, cavernous gullet and shuddered in ecstasy. **If only Kushina’s chains had been a bit looser, the feast that war could have provided…**_

**_________________________________________________**

Indra had to admit, someone within the Kusakage’s entourage was very clever. Perhaps it was simply the Kusakage himself, because he’d invited Team Seven to join his entourage as they departed for the Grass Village then proceeded to ignore them. This meant that the Sound Five, despite their glares and threatening motions, could not make a move against the Leaf Shinobi without implicitly attacking their employer. Despite his best attempts, Indra radiated smug satisfaction the entire way to Kusagakure, while his genin took in the sights and chattered about everything under the sun.

“Sensei, what’s that?”

“The river Valon, it feeds into Kusagakure’s water supply and its tributaries supply their rice fields.”

“What’s that?”

“Giant mushrooms.” He paused, anticipating Naruto’s next question. “No, you can’t eat them. In fact, Kusagakure uses the spores to create a highly concentrated poison for alchemists.”

“A poision that has remained banned by three successive administrations from usage on the battlefield,” added one of the Kusakage’s black-clad bodyguards.

Sakura whistled and pointed. “What are those?”

Indra and the bodyguard, who’d been eyeing one another in a professional manner, turned and blinked. “That’s a flock of Mushroom People,” said the bodyguard while Indra raised his remaining eyebrow. “Never expected them to be out during the day.”

“Mhm,” agreed the Grass-nin. “All the fighting must’ve shaken their roots. Look, they’re moving West away from the battlefield.”

“Wow, are they Grass citizens? Can they become ninja? Heck, how are they even alive? Like, they’re walking on two legs and everything, y’know?”

Indra and the Grass bodyguard shrugged as one. Some things were simply better off as mysteries. Especially since they’d been in the soup Team Seven had slurped down before they set out.

Soon enough the convoy had arrived at Kusagakure, nestled on the edge of one of the Land of Grass’s wild forests. Thatched huts and clay walls on the outskirts gave way to modern buildings and even skyscrapers that brushed against the canopies of trees and mushrooms alike. The genin’s heads whirled as they tried to take in every detail and Indra noticed Sasuke staring at the skyline with a look that made his eyes bulge out of his head. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to activate my Sharingan, what does it look like?”

Now it was Indra’s turn to be confused. “You already have it, though.”

Sasuke snorted and tried his eye-bulging expression again. “Yeah, Naruto told me this afternoon.”

“Wait, you mean you’ve been activating it unconsciously during training for the past three years?”

“Well, you never said anything!”

Indra threw up his hand and gestured with his stump. “You kept activating it for months! I assumed you already knew!”

“So that’s what all those stories about the Sharingan were for?”

“It certainly wasn’t for my peace of mind!” Indra dragged a hand down his face, pulling his eyepatch askew and causing a cheery Grass civilian nearby to shriek. Sasuke looked torn between amusement and annoyance that both Uchiha had somehow managed to avoid this critical topic of conversation through sheer, Naruto-level stupidity. His uncle shoved his eyepatch back into place as Naruto and Sakura giggled. “I want to die.”

“That can easily be arranged,” came a voice from the direction of the Sound Five. Everyone else ignored Kimimaro, because the lanes of Kusagakure had opened up to reveal the centerpiece of the Village. Kusagake Tower. The building itself was tall but unremarkable. Five, maybe six stories, with a connecting walkway to an administrative building, and the kanji for Grass emblazoned on its front. But what drew their attention were the hundreds of people, shinobi and civilian alike, gathered in the square and when they saw the Kusakage’s white robes, they rushed forward. The Sound Five and the Kusakage’s bodyguards formed a line, shoving back anxious citizens until their leader said something to Captain Matsoro and tapped his throat. His companion went activated a jutsu and suddenly the Kusakage’s voice rang clear across the square.

“Kusagakure!” The crowd fell silent as Dozuro Kado leapt onto the saddle of his horse and flung his arms wide. “We have won!”

The crowd erupted into cheers, shouts of joy, and sighs of relief, but Dozuro wasn’t done. “The Land of Stone thought we were weak, they thought the death of my father meant that Kusa was pliable. They thought they could roll across our lands like a great boulder and take what they wanted! Men, women, gold, weapons. Well, they got what they came for and found Kusa shinobi aplenty. We bend, but we do not break!”

The crowd roared and Indra caught Tayuya mouthing something enthusiastically in the chaos, pumping her fist in the air.

“What’s more, the Gods have smiled upon us, for today, we recovered the sacred treasure of Kusagakure from the hands of the Leaf Village!” Dozuro bent to grasp the offered handle and unsheathed Kusanagi in a ring of steel that sent reflected light dancing around the square from its keen edge. The crowd buzzed with excitement and Indra saw that the Sound contingent was looking decidedly less pleased now, though Kidōmaru still took the time to give Indra and his genin a few middle fingers. Dozuro pointed the blade at the Kusakage Tower and it shot above the heads of the crowd with a whoosh of air. Everyone ducked and several people screamed, but the blade was well above any of their heads. The point embedded itself in the doorframe of the tower and when the Kusakage released the handle, the sword remained hovering in the air, its great length stretching across the entirely of the plaza as the crowd’s chatter redoubled. Then, Dozuro hopped up onto the hilt of the blade and though it wobbled slightly, the entire length bore his weight. He walked carefully down the length as he continued to speak, the hands of his people brushing against his boots as he passed in some form of benediction, uncaring if they were cut by the blade. Indra saw one old man lose the tip of a trembling finger to the sword, but his rapturous expression remained unchanged.

“We have endured great hardships these last few years,” shouted Dozuro. “Theft, Corruption, Foreign Arrogance, a plague of Celestial Maggots!” But Kusagakure has endured each and every one of these trials, and the Gods have rewarded us now! I am proud to be your Kusakage, and I promise you, we will never bend again!”

Fists rose in the air, and not just from the shinobi. Civilians too, old and young.

“Because this is not just a sword, my friends, this is Kusagakure’s new path you see before you. Narrrow and sharp-edged, it extends into the future, daring us to walk across it towards a new age, a better age!” Dozuro reached the end of the blade and leapt down to the steps of Kusakage Tower as he stretched his hand out. The hilt of the sacred blade shot forward, contracting to the length of a normal sword and flashed through the air into his clenched fist. “Will you walk this path with me?” he roared.

“YES!” the crowd roared back.

Their Kage thrust the blade into the air once more. “Let them hear it in Stone and Leaf alike!”

“YES!”

“Loud enough the very Gods hear our voice!”

“YES!”

“Together, we will never break, Kusagakure! I promise you!”

The wall of sound echoed around the plaza to such an extent even Indra put his hand to his ear and the party really started to kick off.

_________________________________________

Team Seven had decamped to a ground-floor room of the Kusagake Tower which had been abandoned when the celebratory party started. His genin had wanted to join the celebration and Indra had let them, keeping watch from a safe distance as they spent his money on food and clothes.

Sakura had found a dark green, spackled cloak that camouflaged her in the shade and had taken an immediate liking to it, while Sasuke had ransacked the ninja equipment on sale for arm guards, considering the slashes he’d taken on the battlefield. Naruto had at first been stubbornly set on an orange cloak of some sort, but his friends had convinced him to go with something less garish and more sensibly in ocean blue. Why all three of them had giggled at that specific color, Indra had no idea, but chalked it up to some private joke. Sasuke had pointed towards along black trench coat and steel-toed boots, only for his friends to laugh him out of the shop, where Indra had retired to enjoy a lettuce wrap. The two Uchiha sat on a bench and watched the crowds go by, but Indra first noticed someone in the distinct white and green-edged robes of the Kusakage’s Council moving against the current of the crowd. The man’s topknot was tucked against the back of his head, and the breast of his cloak showed a scalpel crossed with a ink pen, denoting his specialties as a medical administrator and government official entwined.

Indra raised a hand in greeting and finished off the last of his second lunch (Amaterasu usage burned a great deal of chakra and calories). “Councilor, to what does Team Seven owe this unexpected pleasure?”

The man mopped his head with a handkerchief and shook Indra’s hand with the firm, dispassionate gesture of a politician. “Indra Uchiha, I am Councilor Ogyū Sorai. I believe we have corresponded before this?”

“So we have. Sasuke, get the others.” His younger self nodded and disappeared into the clothing shop. The instant he was sure the boy was out of earshot, Indra rounded on the politician, speaking through clenched teeth. “Now that we have a moment, allow me to express my _severe_ displeasure at the Kusakage’s grandstanding earlier today. My team and I ran onto a battlefield we had no reason to join and fought off two squads of Stone Ninja to ensure Grass was victorious. We return to them a priceless artifact, and what does your Kusakage do? Slander our contributions at the first opportunity? Worse, he does so publicly, in front of thousands!”

Indra pointed at his eye. ”I’ve been running a genjutsu for the past hour and a half so the crowd thinks we’ve got Grass headbands. My genin team fought off a couple of chunin today, they do not need to be attacked by an angry mob!”

Councilor Sorai gestured in the direction of the crowd, which was dancing and laughing in the streets as confetti floated down from the upper levels of the buildings. A genin sent spirals of air up over the crowd that blew the fallen colors up into the air once more, to general approval. “Does this look like an angry mob, to you Indra Uchiha? It is at the least, unwise to trick our citizens with a genjutsu, when we have invited you here in the spirit of good faith.”

“I’m an Uchiha, here to help an Uzumaki,” he said shortly, his eyes hard. “We know how fast a crowd can turn.”

The flunky sniffed. “Well, far be it from me to disagree with an experienced ninja such as yourself. I was sent here by the Kusakage himself, unless you’d rather the Leaf not get what you came all this way for?”

Indra heard Naruto’s voice give a cheery farewell to the weathered ex-jonin inside the shop and knew he had mere seconds. “I couldn’t give a damn about the Leaf, what matters is my team.”

He was irrationally angry, perhaps, but he’d tempered his anger for the sake of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, storing it away so Councilor Sorai was simply the most opportune target. A crowd had passed by while his children had been trying on clothes, parading around the Stone chunin Naruto had knocked unconscious and pelting him with rotten fruit and stones. True, most of the Village was happy, but the Kusakage’s speech had hit some fairly ominous notes. The sooner they were clear of the village with Karin and her mother, the better.

Right on cue, Sasuke and Sakura appeared in the doorway and Indra made introductions. “Councilor Sorai, this is my team: Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki.”

The man bowed, the silk of his robes billowing around him. “It is a pleasure to meet such distinguished guests, especially ones who have distinguished themselves on the field of battle at so young an age. Kusagakure appreciates your contributions to our victory.”

Sasuke and Sakura looked unimpressed, the man was laying it on pretty thick, but Naruto drank in the praise like ramen broth. “Thanks a bunch Councilor! It was our pleasure, y’know?”

“Indeed,” said the bureaucrat, taken aback as Naruto grabbed his hand and shook it enthusiastically with both hands.

“Really, it’s great that you’ve met me now, because I’m gonna be Hokage someday, so be sure to tell your boss all about it! I bet I’ll get even better at big speeches than he is!”

The Councilor chuckled and surreptitiously wiped his hand on his robes. “Well, aren’t you interesting?” He blinked and drew himself up. “I suppose you’re eager to meet your relatives then?”

“Oh, you betcha!” cheered Naruto, punching the air and jumping up and down in his enthusiasm. The rest of Team Seven was only slightly less eager, and even Indra felt some small measure of genuine happiness curl around his heart.

“Follow me then. Ten’nyo Uzumaki volunteered to serve Kusagakure in any way she could when she arrived many years ago and she has done some tremendous work in the last few days in particular. She volunteered for the Medical Corps, image that!”

Unseen, Indra’s hand clenched into a fist before he forced himself to relax. _They could have arrived early enough, stalled enough of the Grass casualties…_

Team Seven moved down the street and across several blocks of cheering dancing pedestrians, but Councilor Sorai kept his path clear. Sakura frowned and interrupted the man as he was extolling the virtues of loyalty to a Village and the rewards that came with serving even a minor Kage. “Excuse me, Councilor?”

“Yes?” The man looked down at her, exuding grandfatherly patience.

“If today’s battle hadn’t gone the way it did, but we arrived in Kusagakure regardless, would you have held up your end of the bargain?”

Sorai’s mouth curved upwards. “Personally, I would have made every effort to ensure your Uzumaki were returned to you in good condition, but even then, the gift you brought would have turned the tide. The Sacred Kusanagi Blade alone would have seen the Stone invaders carved to ribbons if Lord Kusakage had wielded it! I know he may have seemed presumptuous to your young ears, but rest assured he is truly grateful for your contributions today, he told me so himself.”

“After he threw us under the horse,” Sasuke muttered, only for Naruto to elbow him. “Hey, be nice!”

The two boys looked at their sensei while Sakura launched into a distracting breakdown of the defensible terrain around the Hidden Village, which Sorai fobbed off as “outside his expertise”. Indra simply reached up and tapped his eyepatch in the silent symbol for “be watchful”.

The group reached the gleaming, multi-story hospital building, then turned down a side street, which was considerably shabbier. Naruto swung his head back around. “Woah, we missed the hospital!”

“Records this morning said they were dispatched to a secondary hospital, for the most desperate cases. Besides, we didn’t want the Stone ninja to find them any more than you, hmm?”

“Yeah…I guess that makes sense.”

The man lifted his robes slightly and grimaced at an oily puddle he stepped around. “Such a shame the surroundings, leave something to be desired.” His cheer returned, and it was blatantly forced as they strode through the front doors of a much smaller, dirtier, and green-walled building sandwiched between the hospital and what looked like a hotel. “Well, not every inch of a village can be perfect. I’m sure you know the Leaf has such places where undesirables congregate, don’t you?”

The genin hemmed as Indra swept forward to the front desk, where a bored-looking genin with bright green hair was playing solitaire. “We’re here to see Ten’nyo and Karin Uzumaki,” he said shortly. “They’re volunteers, perhaps accredited as doctors on staff?

“Ummmm?”

Naruto leaned over the desk, smile as encouraging as he could make it. “Yeah! Red hair, a feisty attitude, lotsa chakra, super awesome? Ring any bells?”

The genin looked over their shoulders, saw the white and green robe of a Kusa Councilor and nodded frantically while his hands covered the cards with official-looking documents. “Yeah, yeah, uhhh the red-haired girl came in this morning with her escort. She should be on the Third Floor, Ward H!”

Indra turned and stalked towards the stairs as Councilor Sorai hurried meet him, the genin sweeping forward at his heels. Sasuke tugged on the Councilor’s robe as the rest of Team Seven continued to plie him with questions. Hoping the until-now silent Uchiha would be less inquisitive than the chattering brats, Sorai was doomed to be disappointed. “Why would a girl need an escort? This place doesn’t seem that bad.”

“Yeah,” piped up Naruto, “Sasuke found me in the Red Lamp District, so he totally knows!”

“Typical,” muttered the Councilor and the muscle that clenched in Sasuke’s jaw showed he’d caught the outburst. “Well,” the Grass bureaucrat said, “the wretched Stone ninja had a policy during the Third Great Ninja War of attacking medical supply stations, hospitals, and medical ninja as a standard tactic. As the fighting moved closer to the village, and with the hope your delegation from the Leaf would arrive in time, it was in our best interests to protect our investment.”

They reached the third-floor landing and filed out into the hallway, which at least looked clean. Indra had expected to see bodies slumped against the walls, but it seemed their arrival earlier that day had done some good. Casualties were lower than he’d expected. Or perhaps they were all crowded into that shiny white hospital while the forlorn hope cases came here.

Naruto rubbed his nose. “Blech! Hospitals always smell funky, but this one really stinks Councilor! Let’s find my family and get outta here. Why’d she even volunteer to be a medical ninja anyway?”

The man smiled with his mouth alone, while his eyes remained locked on Naruto. “Oh yes, we were glad to discover her use as a medical ninja. The Uzumaki had such particular talents in that field that-“  
A scream sounded down the corridor and Indra vanished from within his cloak. The cold rage that had been building inside him at the Grass ninja’s veiled disgust of Karin, ignited into white-hot fury. He’d heard Karin scream, but she was a tough woman. The flames of Amaterasu, the white daggers of an Otsusuki, his own death in the Fourth Great Ninja War, all had caused the redhead to cry out when even his own blade through her heart had elicited barely more than a whimper. Whatever made his friend cry like that…

 _Emergency Triage Ward_ said the door in his way. Indra didn’t even raise his hand, “Chidori!”

A whipcrack of his lightning chakra and the door vanished, atomized into clouds of dust that swirled as he sped through them. Ninja around him leapt from their beds or grabbed for weapons, but Indra’s Sharingan was fixed on the little girl at the center of the room, tears running down her face as a burly man held her in place for two Grass-nin to devour. Indra swept the captor’s legs and broke his hold on Karin in one smooth movement, placing his own body between them. One Grass ninja was aware enough to scramble back onto his bed in shock, releasing his hold on Karin in the process. The other had taken a head wound, which only partially excused the way he’d sunk his teeth deep into the meat and tendons of Karin’s arm. The green healing chakra native to Karin’s particular branch of the Uzumaki clan buzzed around his skull, the bandage around his temple falling away to reveal new, unbroken skin. His makeshift healing session was promptly ruined when Foxfang swooped up in a textbook uppercut, flinging the man away from Karin and shattering his jaw in three places. Teeth fell like hail as the man hit the floor and Indra looked over to see Naruto Uzumaki bare his teeth at the first, still-conscious man. “Don’t you touch her!”

The room was still for a moment, before Indra shoved the burly man away from them and stepped away to give Karin some space. Her frightened, pained scream died away into a whimper as the rest of Team 7 and Councilor Sorai ran into the room. “What in the Wind is going on here!” cried the magistrate as he took in the missing door, the screaming ninja and girl alike, not to mention his guest standing next to a black-clad Internal Security chunin who looked just as baffled.

“That’s what I’d like to know!” shouted Naruto as he brandished the now-blooded Foxfang threateningly in the burly man’s direction. “Because when Sensei an’ I got here, they were EATING her!”

A part of Indra was quietly glad he hadn’t been the one to speak first because he could never, in a thousand lifetimes, match the kind of righteous anger and shock Naruto Uzumaki was able to put into his voice even at the age of twelve. Sakura’s “wHAT” pitched up an octave and Sasuke made a disgusted noise at the back of his throat. The older Uchiha swallowed down all the things he dearly wanted to say and knelt down to Karin’s eye level. The girl was slowly backing away from all of them, injured arm held to her chest even as it healed before their eyes. She was still a frightened girl, and her voice was shaky with unvoiced sobs. “Who-who are you people?”

Naruto wasn’t quite able to swallow his anger, but he did manage to give an approximation of his normal smile. Only his teammates noticed he was showing perhaps a little more fang than normal. “Hi there! My name’s Naruto Uzumaki, just like you! That’s Sakura, with the pink hair, and these guys are Sasuke and Indra Uchiha. We’re from the Leaf Village and we wanted to see if you wanted to come live with us.”

“Huh?”

Karin looked back and forth between the smiling blonde and the other ninja, noticing for the first time that they were both much more colorful than the Grass shinobi around her and the different insignia on their headbands. Naruto’s smile faded slightly.

“We’re here from the Leaf Village and we’re here to rescue you!”

Karin shook her head slowly and took a step back. “I don’t need rescuing, I live here.”

“It seems there’s been a rather unfortunate misunderstanding,” said Councilor Sorai as he glided up the smooth linoleum to put a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “As I said, these Uzumaki have been helping the Kusagakure Medical Corps recently with emergency triage procedures. Indra-san, I’m sure a man of your worldly experience understands the importance of moving as many patients out of the grasp of death as possible.”

“Hey!” Sakura stormed up to stand next to Naruto and slapped the Councilor’s hand away. “She’s got a name, Mister, why don’t you use it?”

The older man looked down at Sakura with no small amount of surprise as Sasuke moved to join them, edging around Indra to guard his blind side and to stand in front of Karin, whose head was whipping back and forth as she followed the exchange.

The burly man behind Indra made a grab for Karin’s arm, but she shrank back and he stormed through the Leaf ninja to reach his master’s side. “The girl’s slowed our casualty rate down to 13% in the last day and a half she’s been here,” he said gruffly. “Any pain she endures is no less than that of a frontline shinobi of the Grass.” A vast arm swept out to indicate the hall and the dozens of bleeding, moaning shinobi within. “Look at how many of our people she can save. She should be grateful an outsider like herself can contribute to the Grass Village in such a way, since her mother failed us last night.”

A hiccupped sob came from the small red figure. “M-Mom.”

Indra felt his empty eye socket itch.

“What happened to your mom?” asked Naruto, his eyes silently begging the girl not to say what he already suspected in his heart. Sasuke put his hand on Naruto’s shoulder. “Naruto, maybe now isn’t the best-“

“She failed us, is what happened,” said the Grass chunin dismissively. “She only healed three and a half wards yesterday before she up and died on us. Honestly, for all the supposed prowess of the Uchiha, you really haven’t tamed your Uzumaki well have-“

His head and shoulders simply vanished.

**_Yesss, that’s it boy. Righteous rage. The retribution of the wronged. Hatred._ **

_The fox practically whispered the last word into his ear. **Vengeance.**_

**_You feel it, don’t you? It gives us strength, gives us power. Power to smite the wicked, to right the wrongs cast upon the Uzumaki. Upon you. Upon the girl. Just look at what they’ve done to her. A sacrifice for the sake of the village. Now, why does that sound so familiar?_ **

_“No, that’s not what…”_

_Ivory teeth bared themselves in a smile._

**_It’s exactly what the wretched Fourth Hokage did to you, a helpless child. Your mother wasn’t even dead before he sealed me inside you. He condemned us to this fate, just like they’ve condemned this child. Are you going to just accept that?_ **

_“I don’t have to! I can get strong without your help. Indra-sensei and Jiji both said you’re horrible. You’re mean!”_

_The Fox snorted. **“I am what my nature and the wickedness of mortals have made me. I make no excuses, but for once your interests and mine align.”**_

_Naruto crossed his arms and looked skeptically at the vast sealed cage. “Oh yeah? And how’s that?”_

**_“Aren’t you going to become Hokage someday?”_ **

_“Yeah?”_

**_“How could you become Hokage if you can’t even protect your family from a single thug?”_ **

_“Indra-san’s trained me, I’ll kick his butt!”_

**_“You are just a brat, like she is. Weak. Powerless.”_ **

_Naruto shook his head and brandished Foxfang at the golden bars. “That’s not true! Sure, I’m just starting out, but we’ve been doing great so far. Indra-sensei even said that if I have to kill people, I should do it for the right reasons. You wouldn’t know right from wrong if it bit your tails! Why do you even care anyway?”_

_The Nine-Tails laughed, deep and mocking **. I can taste the lie on your soul, you brat. Only with my power can you save her and show the world the righteous judgement the Uzumaki have long been denied! The judgement against the wicked I was created to deliver!”**_

_The beast drew closer to the golden doors. **“You remember your promise, don’t you? You promised to one day free me.”**_

_“Hey!” Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the Kyuubi. “I never promised you anything! I said IF you kept being a jerk, I wouldn’t let you go. You’re still being a jerk and you just said you’ve always been a jerk!”_

**_Then let me show you otherwise,_ ** _hissed the Fox. **I won’t harm your friends, your sensei, or your dearly distant cousin. As much as I wish it otherwise, this isn’t even the Leaf Village. So what do you have to worry about?**_

_Naruto’s voice and his resolve were weakening, so the Kyuubi allowed tendrils of orange chakra to seep out of his cage towards the boy. Naruto either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “But you’d be hurting people who don’t deserve-“_

_Karin’s screams echoed through the dimly lit sewers once again, followed by her broken sobs. The Nine-Tails’s voice throbbed with anticipation and anger **. How many times has she suffered at his hand, that we were not there to hear? How much blood has been spilled we could not smell? What wrongs were done, that we were not there to correct?**_

The Tailed Beast’s voice rose to a crescendo as orange chakra flooded out of the cage and engulfed Naruto in a wave of energy. Even though the boy knew he shouldn’t, that he should push it away, it was still so tantalizing…

_You’re allowed to be angry about what happened._

The brief resistance the Nine-Tails chakra encountered vanished and it flowed into Naruto’s spiritual body without resistance.

_We’re all allowed to be angry, sometimes._

Red eyes looked out of Naruto Uzumaki’s head as the smell of ozone and battery acid filled the room.

_I think if we weren’t, we wouldn’t be human._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter's late again, there really isn't an excuse, but I've been building this last scene for a while and hope I conveyed the slide from "party atmosphere" to "dirty deeds hospital" relatively smoothly, if not subtly. I went back and found Karin's flashback to her childhood in one of the Shippuden filler episodes and the abuse metaphor is so painful to watch. Hells, it's barely even a metaphor. In-show, they never explain who attacked Grass and why they sustained casualties so heavy Karin and her mother healed themselves to death, but rest assured, Stone didn't just attack Grass for the hell of it. 
> 
> Might go back and tweak Team Seven's reactions to murder, maybe Naruto's a little too cheery, but part of the point is he HASN'T killed anyone yet. Even in-show, he KO's 90% of his enemies or Rasengan's them offscreen where Kakashi can scoop them into a bucket. Still, I got the "Sasuke bumblefucks his way through parenting" part mostly right, I hope. Sasuke/Indra as the parent and I as the writer, are both trying to strike a balance between "Killing people is totally necessary, don't let it eat at you, and "Careless slaughter bad". Obviously my version of Naruto is a little more Grey compared to Kisihmoto's "Obito was the greatest" and generally squishy morality system. But anyway, I've kept you patient, lovely, readers waiting long enough!
> 
> Trivia Time!  
> Karin's mother didn't have a name, so I named her "Heavenly Matron" just to twist the knife, and also for Secret Reasons.  
> Councilor Ogyū Sorai is based on an influential scholar and advisor in the Tokugawa Shogunate who wasn't a big fan of the common people.  
> The clothing scene was originally just poke fun at the black coated steel-toed boots edgy Naruto outfit in fan fiction, but then I realized the kids went through a few combat encounters, so they should get loot. Don't worry, there won't be drastic changes, just small modifications. Also, Naruto needed a new shirt, he'll get his regular jacket back when he returns to the Leaf. Indra doesn't switch outfits because he already hit the level cap at the end of his first life.  
> Inner Sakura's extra arms come from the design of Asura's Wrath, which is a mediocre game, but a fun anime to watch on Youtube. Gaara's voice actor, Liam O'Brian, voices the MC, which makes it...funny in the English Dub.  
> The Mushroom People come from Dark Souls, particularly the gif where one punch lays a dude flat out. The Naruto wiki does mention that sometimes the giant mushrooms in the Land of Grass move on their own...


	41. Mission to Grass:Unpleasant Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto runs wild as the Nine-Tails overtakes him in the Hidden Grass Village. Indra has words with the Kusakage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning for Domestic Violence this chapter.  
> TW: DV  
> I'm not sure what else to put here other than it's bad and you shouldn't do it. Duh!

Indra realized what was happening before the body hit the ground. His lone Sharingan spiraled into life and he grabbed for Naruto’s shoulder, as orange chakra seeped from below his student’s jacket to form sizzling armor. Indra thought he was prepared for this, but he’d forgotten what Kurama’s pure, unfiltered rage was like. The chakra engulfed his hand and it instantly went numb as Indra’s chakra coils and nervous system went into shock. Still,Indra didn’t let go as he spun the boy around.

Naruto had his eyes squeezed tightly shut as he breathed deeply, both of them ignoring the screams around them, the noise of unsheathed weapons. “So that’s what this was,” he said in a distant voice. “I’d always wondered y’know?”

“Naruto, are you alright?” demanded Indra.”Please open your eyes.”

The boy shook his head and his voice hardened into the typical declaration of Uzumaki determination, tinged with something older and far more powerful “Not yet sensei.”

Whoever was inside Naruto’s body turned to Councilor Sorai, shrugging off Indra’s hand as he did so, and took a deep breath. “Greed, callousness, apathy. But not true wickedness.” The boy sighed. “Still, you allowed the Uzumaki to be harmed, so perhaps a little lesson is in order.” A fanged smile crept across his face as a clawed hand shot out and grabbed the councilor’s robes. “Let’s go for a run.”

Indra dove forward to grab Naruto in a bear hug, but the chakra flowing through the jinchuriki’s body enhanced his reflexes just enough that he was able to duck and twist away. Indra’s Sharingan saw it coming, the predictive images flowing away from him, but orange chakra lashed out, shoving him backwards, paralyzing him as it crawled over his skin and plunged questing tendrils into his own chakra network. He hit the floor hard as Naruto charged across the room, shouldering aside the walking wounded who tried to stop him. There was an yell of effort as the wall gave way under the assault of Foxfang, Naruto recoiling as whispy tendrils of white light began to emerge from the hilt. “Sealing jutsu, of course,” he snorted as he tossed the weapon back at his comrade’s feet. “Clever gnats, but not enough.”

He jumped across the dingy alleyway and scurried up the wall with little visible resistance, dropping the Grass councilor as he shrieked, only to catch him in a limb of orange chakra, that slowly ate into the man’s pristine robes. Soon, he was out of sight, but Sasuke and Sakura rushed to Indra with looks of horror on their faces.

“Sensei!” cried Sakura as she turned him over. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll live,” he said as his fingers twitched, residual Tailed Beast chakra working its way through his system. “But you two need to go after him right now!”

“Why us?” asked Sakura, her voice high-pitched. “He just hurt you, sensei, what chance would we have?”

“I’m his teacher, but you’re his friends,” said Indra with a calm he did not feel. _When parenting in chaotic situations, traumatized children may seek stability from close relationships, but may also lash out at authority figures they see as trying to control them._ “Sasuke, you have the first tomoe of the Sharingan, so you should be able to follow his movements and Sakura, your genjutsu can slow him down, keep him from hurting other people. I know this may seem like too much, but you’ve done incredibly so far.” A soft smile crossed his lips as a trembling hand reached up to pat Sasuke’s shoulder. “You can do it, just be careful.”

Indra’s younger self nodded, a familiar look of determination settling onto his features. “Understood Uncle. Let’s go Sakura, he’s getting away!”

“Wh-What should I do?” stuttered a frail voice as the Leaf ninja looked over to see Karin drifting towards them. Or perhaps she was simply drifting away from the Grass ninja, all of whom were looking furious as several raced down the stairs, calling for doctors and reinforcements. Sasuke’s eyes softened as he recognized that expression. He’d seen it the morning after the Massacre, staring back at him from the hospital mirror.

“What do you want to do?” he said simply.

She looked down at the body of the man who’d dragged her in here, who held her down as men bit into her flesh, as she screamed…His cold hands.

“I can’t, no, I don’t want to stay here,” she admitted. “But you guys don’t seem all that safe either.”

Sakura let out a weak chuckle. “Yeah, pretty horrible first impression, right? But Naruto’s not normally like that, he’s always been very kind.”

Karin looked doubtful, but said nothing. “Is he really an Uzumaki?”

“Kushina Uzumaki’s son,” said Indra shortly as he tried and failed to climb to his feet. Sasuke circled around and, using the now empty bed as leverage, managed to get his uncle up as the older Uchiha kept speaking. “He’s a good kid, and he got this angry because he was once treated the same way. Ignored, abused, seen by some as a resource for the Village. He wanted to protect you.”

“Because I’m an Uzumaki he’s never met before in his life?”

“Yes,” said the Leaf ninja simultaneously. Karin took that in.

“Well, I think I can help you find him then. I-“ she paused. “I don’t know much about being a ninja, but I can sense people from really far away. Feel their chakra or something.”

“That’s great!” said Sakura, giving the other girl a thumbs-up as she headed towards the hole in the wall before stopping. “Wait, so you don’t even know how to stick to walls, walking on water, that stuff?”

Karin’s eyes were wide with awe. “You can do that?”

Sasuke huffed in irritation and turned. “We’re wasting too much time,” he said. “Climb on my back, I’ll carry you and you tell us where Naruto’s gone.”

Karin moved forward uncertainly and clambered onto Sasuke’s back and to the boy’s credit, he took her weight with merely a grunt of effort.

“Go!” said Indra urgently and Sasuke followed his friend out into the alley, with Sakura close behind. Seconds after Sakura’s bright pink hair had disappeared over the rooftop, the sound of dozens of footsteps came from the corridor and a team of rapid-response Grass chunin appeared along with the terrified doctors and furious patients. “That’s him!” shouted one, pointing at Indra. “Those’re the Leaf traitors who just killed Gojubo!”

Indra’s eye narrowed. “We just stopped you from eating a little girl alive. The Gods don’t look kindly on cannibalism, so you should be grateful we didn’t cause more damage.”

The Grass chunin fanned out in a semicircle around him as the doctors felt for pulses on the insensate Grass patients Naruto had clobbered. “Surrender, and we’ll take you to the Kusakage for sentencing. You’re in the middle of the Grass Village, so don’t bother trying to resist.”

“I’m not going to resist,” said Indra as he raised his hand to eye level in surrender. “There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation-“

His Sharingan flashed red and every Grass shinobi in the room fell to the floor, their memories of the last five minutes a vanishing blur. By the time they woke up, they would be convinced a structural weakness had caused a collapse and killed that chunin. Indra strode over and hefted Foxfang. _I think it’s time,_ he said to himself, _I paid the Kusakage another visit._

Naruto moved across the rooftops, running on all fours, without thought as the rage burned through him. **_Go back,_** came the voice he now recognized as the Nine-Tailed Fox. Naruto slowed and ducked into the shadow of a water tower as ninja teams moved across the rooftops towards the hospitals.

 ** _Back in the main hospital,_** growled the voice, **_there is another._**

“Huh? Whaddya mean?”

“What? I didn’t say anything!” wailed Councilor Sorai.

**_True wickedness that must be punished. Can you not smell it? Here._ **

A breeze that was not carried the stench of rotten meat to his nose and Naruto gagged. “Eugh! Why does that smell so bad?”

The Kyuubi’s voice was full of derision. **_Inside the main hospital, a place of healing, there is a nurse. She finds her patients bothersome, their struggles futile, so she ends their lives with a syringe and a smile when they could be saved. She deludes herself that it is mercy, but it is a pleasure to her._**

“Th-That’s horrible!” Orange chakra flickered. “We gotta stop her, go tell the doctors or something-“

 ** _She is very careful to leave little evidence,_** growled the Fox. **_If we do not destroy her, she will kill again and again and their blood shall stain us as well. Do you want that?_**

“No way!”

Naruto charged back in the direction he’d come as inside, the Kyuubi bared his teeth in a grin. Naruto flowed like water down the side of the shiny white hospital, leaving scorch marks on the paint as the smell of rotten meat intensified. The tenth floor became the eighth, became the fifth, when a Grass ninja flickered into existence on the side of the building, his arms crossed. “Hey kid, you’re not allowed to wall-walk on the Hospitals, remember? The-AGGH!”

Naruto flung the flailing Councilor at the man, knocking him off the wall and snatching back the official in midair as his shrieks intensified. The Grass ninja smashed through an awning and landed on the street below, causing pedestrians to scatter when his body hit the sidewalk.

Naruto’s eyes flickered down. “I hope he’s ok,”

**_No one will stop us. It is too important. There, observe._ **

Naruto tuned out the babbling of the man held behind him and peered in through the window as a middle-aged woman in the high white collar and pointed hat of a nurse closed the door of a patient’s room and locked it behind her. A queer smile stretched what should have been a kindly face into something unsettling as the patient said something indistinct. The nurse pulled a syringe of a yellowish liquid from her gown and tapped it a few times as she raised the patient’s arm.

 ** _We have the power,_** said the Fox. **_What will you do?_**

Naruto’s fist shattered the window and he was right behind it, fangs bared.

“Wha-“ was all the nurse got out before Naruto’s other hand snatched hers, crushing the syringe in her fist as the glass and metal shredded tendons and nerves. Naruto spoke in a voice that was not his own as the rotten-meat stench flooded his nostrils. “ ** _How many?_** ” He demanded.

“How many people have you killed, you snake?”

“I don’t understand-“

She screamed, bones cracking as Naruto tightened his grip, the fury of orange chakra pouring off of him. “Fifty-six!” She looked up at him with that same grin that spoke of madness. “It was right, it was the only peace I could give them!“

Claws tore her throat out in a spray of gore and the Fox was already back on the wall, taking great vertical leaps as the smell dissipated along with her blackened soul. “ ** _Here is your peace.”_**

Naruto was silent for some time, but when it came, his voice was hard even as tears flowed from his eyes. “How many people are like this?”

**_In this village? Several dozen. But time is not on our side. Your friends will try to stop us._ **

Naruto shook his head frantically. “No, no, they won’t! I can make them understand, y’know? Sasuke would!”

 ** _He might,_** allowed the Kyuubi, playing its cards very carefully. **_He might not. You already saved the little Uzumaki, how many others could we save?_**

Naruto’s body soared above the street like a firey comet, and many of the joyous villagers cheered as he passed overhead. Most assumed he was a firework, but the shinobi could feel him, the odious pulse of the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune’s chakra. In ones and two’s they followed, several splitting off to warn their superiors or in hopes of protecting the civilians. But the figure which tossed the screaming councilor from claw to claw had no interest in them.

“ ** _You see the wickedness your village produces_**?” asked the blonde boy. “ ** _Why the judgements of mortals are inadequate?”_**

They alighted on top of a radio tower and a chakra construct dangled the upside-down man at Naruto’s eye level, his robes falling back to reveal purple-dotted underwear. Naruto sniggered, sounding like a child despite the jagged whisker-marks and slitted red eyes.

“You just killed her!” protested Sorai, trying to recover some of his dignity and control. “She should have been investigated, given a trial, so we could learn the true extent of what she had done!”

“ ** _And in that time, how many other crimes would have been committed that mortals would fail to see? A waste of time! No, the old way is best,”_** said the Fox with Naruto’s mouth. “ ** _For instance, down there._** ”

Red eyes sharpened as they were inexorably drawn to a man stumbling along a side-street and Naruto’s sense of smell told him the man stank of alcohol even from this distance. There was that fish-odor again…

“ ** _A common case of the weakness of mortals,_** ” hissed the Kyuubi. “ ** _He is unsatisfied with his life and his drinking devours all the money he makes fishing. When this festival started, he was happy, but now, his thoughts turn back to his home. He blames his children for his poverty and his wife takes the beatings upon herself to protect them. You knew of such things before, in the Red Lamp District.”_**

A lump had formed in Naruto’s throat, which he swallowed down hard as the furious tears dried into salty trails on his face. He’d felt some of those drunkard’s fists himself, on the few occasions he’d tried to help the girls and the Kyuubi sensed the direction of his thoughts. **_This is what our power was created for, why you accepted it, right? You can stop this._**

“Are you gonna kill him?” asked Naruto, peering down as the man nearly fell over and righted himself on a fence before puking on his shoes. “I mean, it sucks, an’ yeah we can stop it, but he’s kinda sad. Killing him just seems so…final.”

The man reached a shabby little apartment and fumbled with the key before disappearing into the stairwell, muttering oaths. The smell of fish seemed to spike as the Kyuubi rumbled.

**_Very well, runt. Behold, the consequences._ **

The Fox was about to swing Naruto to a new vantage point when two dozen shinobi in dark green armor and masks landed around them, on rooftops and TV antennas, and every single one had weapons in their hands. The foremost was a man in a silver mask, who pointed a sword at Naruto’s flickering orange form. “Release the Councilor, Konoha shinobi, or we will attack!”

Naruto grinned and two of the ninja recoiled as his smile stretched just a bit too wide for a human face to contain it. “Sure thing!” he said brightly, and tossed the shrieking man at the Grass ANBU, who caught him smoothly. “He wasn’t really listening to us anyway.” The man dropped Sorai to the rooftop below, where he scattered towards the nearby stairwell without a second glance.

A scream rang out from below, a short, sharp cry of pain, and Naruto jerked around, ignoring the ninja as his whole body oriented towards the apartment building, the chakra around him lashing in agitation.

“What, is he going to charge?”

“Stand ready!”

“Kahuko, you have that rope jutsu ready?”

“Yeah.”

Another scream and the Kyuubi’s patience was exhausted as the Grass ninja charged as one, ropes flying from a ninja’s clasped hands only to burn and wilt as they encountered the Kyuubi’s chakra. Red eyes looked up as pink and red-haired silhouettes emerged from the cityscape. Naruto’s body let out an inarticulate growl as shuriken dug into his hands, his shoulders, his chest, his face, and brought up his right hand. The sword descending to bisect his face stopped as Naruto simply reached up and caught it, his face grimacing as the momentum carved through his palm, only stopping with the jarring impact of bone.

“LEAVE US ALONE!”

Sasuke, Sakura, and Karin ducked back below the lip of the liquor store they were on as a massive shockwave exploded from Naruto, sending most of the ninja scattering like grass in the wind.

“Holy crap,” whispered Sakura as her hands weaved through signs. Karin’s eyes widened as she felt the chakra thick in the air around them and she bent over to heave what was left of her meagre lunch onto the roof. A body smashed into the air-conditioning unit next to them and slumped down. Sasuke, one eye on Naruto as he moved, checked the shinobi’s vitals and sighed in relief when the steady pulse and breath informed him that they weren’t dead. “Sakura, do you have him?”

She nodded, unable to speak until the genjutsu was complete. _The Voiceless Binding_ was a Chapter Four genjutsu in Kakashi’s book and it would immobilize absolutely anything, provided the caster remained silent. The downside was, it required the caster to share the subject’s pain. She gritted her teeth as sharp pain blossomed all over her upper body and her hand suddenly went numb. Sasuke stepped up onto the roof, his hands held out in front of him cautiously.

“Naruto?”

His friend’s head whipped around before ducking away from direct eye contact. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Yeah, well here I am.” He took a deep breath. “Naruto, what are you doing?”

The boy gave him an odd look. “Can’t you smell that? The dried, dying fish?”

Sasuke shook his head, gasped when he caught sight of Naruto’s eyes. The clear blue of the ocean had become an angry, slitted red iris, which had expanded to take up most of the eye. “Don’t-“ Naruto’s voice broke. “Don’t look at me!”

“You’re glowing orange,” noted Sasuke in something approaching their normal banter. “It’s tough to not look at you.”

Naruto’s laugh did something strange then, alternating between something deep and baritone, and his normal high-pitched cackle. “Come here.” He crooked one clawed finger that Sasuke noticed for the first time was soaked in blood.

“Is it safe?” Sasuke found himself asking, knowing that the two girls behind him would be absolutely defenseless if Sakura’s genjutsu failed.

“For you. **Oh, and tell the flower petal to stop that. The genjutsu’s getting annoying**.”

An explosive sigh came from the lip of the rooftop as Sakura unclasped her hands, running fingers over a right hand that refused to uncurl from its clasped position. Karin’s own hand hesitantly joined her, the redhead’s gentle fingers straightening the clenched muscle and soothing the phantom ache Sakura felt.

Sasuke joined Naruto at the roof’s edge as the blonde crouched on all fours, eyes fixed on a fourth floor window. “There,” he said simply.

Another loud cry came from the apartment building and Sasuke saw a kitchen table rock as a body flew into it.

“You let them leave the building?” Another blow, from a large hand, and the woman’s head rocked with the force of it. “Those brats could be anywhere! You’re lazy!” Kick. “Irresponsible!” Kick. “Worthless!” Kick. The woman was barely reacting to the abuse now and Sasuke felt his hand curl around the hilt of his sword, the anger building inside of him. He felt its reflection, magnified a thousandfold in the chakra next to him and realized. The Nine-Tails’ very chakra was infused with anger, fairly boiled with it.

Naruto spoke, his voice back to the deep baritone as the stench of ozone began to curl around them. “ **The runt does not think I should kill this man, whose heart is full of wickedness. He will not change, not in a mortal lifetime.** ” His voice shifted to disgust. “ **The runt is naïve and full of misplaced hope**.”

“We’re witnesses,” said Sasuke. “We can arrest him and get him-“

The Fox shot him a look of contempt he had never seen on Naruto’s face. “ **That would be the mortal way, to ape at justice. It is not mine. You can feel it can’t you?** ” The voice had softened and carried some of Naruto’s pleading tone now. “ **That righteous anger inside you when you think about your Clan, how he left you all alone. The pain you endured. Wouldn’t you stop him, if you could?** ”

“I do,” Sasuke heard himself saying. “But I’m not strong enough yet.”

The Fox grinned that too-wide grin again and Sasuke was suddenly reminded of the way Naruto used to tear into a piece of meat, worrying it with his teeth. He felt a drop of sweat trail down his neck, under the collar and over his spine. “ **I am** ,” said the Fox with satisfaction. “ **The runt has given me permission to punish wickedness, and that I why I am here. You know your brother is wicked, just as you know Naruto would join you if you asked. He would unleash me upon Itachi Uchiha, and I will strike him down**.”

A fanged mouth crept close to his ear. “ **It would be justice**.”

Sasuke released his grip on the sword and crossed his arms as Sakura approached. “It would,” he admitted. “But that’s not how I want things to go.”

Naruto growled, actually growled in displeasure, before the smile crept back across his face. “ **That’s right, I’d almost forgotten. Perhaps This will change your perspective**.”

Clawed hands rotated his head as red met red and Sasuke was falling, falling, falling.

He landed, hard, on a straw mat and, several seconds later, so did Sakura. A faint pink shimmer surrounded her, but they were both transparent

The setting was familiar, surprisingly. His father’s office, with the Lineage Scroll propped in the corner, a small bonsai tree off to the side, the scrolls and cabinets. The people were different. A red-haired woman who could only be Kushina Uzumaki, knelt next to his mother, while a less-lined version of his father sat slightly in front of them. They were speaking with a long-haired dark woman, her face harsh and beautifully imperial. The teacups in front of them had long since grown cold. Sasuke frowned. “Why can’t I hear them?”

A familiar voice answered. **_The content of this discussion is immaterial. Watch._**

Over the next few minutes, the discussion grew heated, first Fugaku, then Kushina, leaning forward, obviously protesting. The older woman jabbed a finger at Mikoto and Kushina looked to her side in shock. Fugaku rose to his feet, glare pouring down upon the old woman, but-

“Stop.” Pink light flashed and Sasuke turned to see Sakura untangle her hands from the Horse sign. “Apologies, Kyuubi-no-Kitsune,” she murmured. “I want to check something.” She stepped forward, passing through the forms of his parents to examine the old woman and Sasuke found himself studying his mother’s face.

There was fury there, unspoken for the moment, but there was also fear. Quiet and hidden, but it was there. What had she been afraid of?

 ** _Enough_** **,** said the Kyuubi as the memory began to play again. Kushina said something , her hair waving behind her, but Mikoto rose, shouting something-

Fugaku turned and hit Mikoto with a backhand blow, his full body weight behind it, and Sasuke’s mother crumpled to the floor.

Suddenly they were back on the rooftop, breathing hard as Naruto’s face stared into his own. “ **Think, brat. Think of how long they were married, how little she objected to your father’s demands.”**

“No, that’s not possible. My father wouldn’t-“

The thing wearing Naruto’s face was relentless. “ **He hurt her once, he could do it again. Perhaps he did, and you simply didn’t notice. Now, how does that make you feel?”**

Sasuke drew his sword and froze.

Naruto’s body turned slowly to see Sakura, face contorted as The Voiceless Binding attempted to restrain a fragment of a god alongside the human next to it. “ **I expected you to be smarter, flower petal.”**

She shook her head frantically as the Kyuubi stared at her. He’d sworn to the runt that he wouldn’t harm his teammates or sensei. But the girl was in the way.

“Excuse me?” Naruto’s body and Sakura turned to see Karin incing her way around the moaning, insensate Grass-nin on the roof, looking absolutely terrified out of her mind. “You’re not Naruto Uzumaki?”

 **“I am not, Blood of Uzushio,”** said the baritone voice in an oddly formal tone. “ **I am bound to him as he is bound to me, and he promised to release me, in this** -“ He gestured at Naruto’s body, “ **limited form, to deliver Divine Justice to the enemies of the Uzumaki**.”

Karin smiled, and neither mortal nor biju could figure out why. “So, you’re saying he turned into whatever-you-are to save me? Back in that hospital?”

The relish in the Fox’s voice could have covered a hot dog. “ **Yes. Yes he did**. **Here**.”

The suffocating aura of chakra lessened as Naruto’s face slackened, the whiskers on his face thinning as his eyes moved from red to familiar blue . “Oh! Um, hi Karin!” Naruto waved, then paused to examine his hands, which now had dried blood underneath them. “Huh.” He fell silent, staring at his hand and the blood before Karin’s voice piped up again.

“Naruto, if you turned into this to save me, well, thanks.” She blushed bizarrely as Sakura looked at her like she was crazy. “I think this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. But you guys seem super worked-up and everything, when it seems pretty simple.”

“It does?” ground out Sasuke, who could barely speak through the genjutsu.

“Well, duh.” Karin adjusted her glasses. “He did this for me, so it’s only fair I get to decide what happens.”

_Inside Naruto, the Fox felt a flicker, an anger long repressed through years of taunts, scorn, and dismissive adults. **Yes…**_

The blonde schrunched up his face as a thought worked its way through his brain. “Well, I guess that makes sense, especially ‘cause you don’t seem like anybody’s ever given you a lot of choices y’know?”

Sakura nodded, relieved that for once the girls would be able to sort this thing out while the boys were being unreasonable. Inner Sakura wasn’t sure to feel relieved or disappointed that she hadn’t had to try fighting the Kyuubi’s psychic aspect. They could try and help some of these Grass-nin, or just head back to Indra-sensei.

Karin’s voice was as cold as ice. “Then my decision is to kill them. These-these bullies, that man down there,” she pointed at the apartment, her face bright with eagerness “the Kusakage. I want you to kill them all.”

“Woah, woah, woah!” said Naruto, trying and failing to flail his hands. “That’s pretty harsh.”

“It’s my decision,” said Karin, her voice brittle. “You said I could choose, and I know they’re just going to come after me again, just like every time I tried to run away.” She met Naruto’s eyes and he could see the desperation there, the terror, the tear tracks. “If you don’t kill them,” she said with the bitterness of experience, “I’ll never feel safe.”

Naruto thought about beaten girls, about Tayuya’s fury as she told Naruto to never, ever reveal his name in the Land of Water, about mothers none of them would ever see again, about oaths made in blood and sealed in salt water.

“I know!” His face brightened as the orange chakra slowly sank back beneath his skin. “They can’t come after us if we break all their legs! We don’t have to kill ‘em, but it’s super painful, so they won’t follow us and have time to think about how we could still kick their butts!”

_The Fox scowled, but realized a lost battle. The runt had his friends now, and if he'd persisted, they would have viewed him as an enemy. Better to cede control now, and trust that Naruto would call upon him again. He had years, after all..._

“We could drop them at the hospital,” said the Uchiha, who’d been listening. “But could you let us go, Sakura?”

The girl released an explosive breath as her hands came apart and Sasuke did the same as he realized he could move again, could breathe properly again. “What about that guy in there?”

He pointed with his naked sword at the woman visible inside the apartment, who’d righted one of the chairs and was holding an ice-pack to her face. Sakura punched her palm in a conscious imitation of Naruto’s gesture. “I think I’ve got one more really nasty jutsu left in me. Suggestions?”

The boys launched into a litany of phrases from Chapters 3 and 4 as Karin hefted a stray cinderblock. “You guys are weird.”

“Welcome to the Uzumaki-Uchiha household,” said Sasuke as he examined an unconscious Anbu’s leg for the perfect place to kick it. Naruto blushed a furious crimson, but Sasuke didn’t notice.

____________________________________________

Indra landed on the porch of the Kusakage’s home with barely a sound, but two wooden-masked Anbu stepped out of the shadows anyway.

“Come in,” came a voice as the Anbu melted back into the small grove that circled the garden. It was in the classical style, with a koi pond, a few minimalistic trees that allowed for flowers to sprawl across the green space. Indra drifted forwards, a dark spot on all the vibrant green, and his fury was a coiled, perching thing ready to strike. The Kusakage looked up from a table, surrounded by several women whose only commonality was their plentiful beauty and varying levels of clothes.

“Did you know?” spat Indra, Sharingan spinning as it sought to express his anger, but he held back the black flame, for now.

“Know about what?” asked the Kusakage. “Did Councilor Sorai not deliver the Uzumaki to your satisfaction?”

“We had an agreement that in exchange for the Kusanagi Blade, two Uzumaki would be fair recompense. Two! Not one girl and a corpse!”

The Kusakage made a noise of sympathy. “My apologies, then. Sorai was sure she would last the night, but ah well, I suppose that’s the price to be paid when you’re running close to the margins. She really was quite useful, healing three entire wards like that.”

“You broke the terms of our agreement.”

“An agreement I did not make, that I inherited from my late father.”

"Which you were honor-bound to complete!" Indra’s glower contained every ounce of his disgust and it still didn’t feel like enough. “We fought for you, I burned Stone ninja alive for you, trusting that Kusagakure would respect an alliance with Konoha, and not only do you work a woman to death, you put her daughter into the same situation. Blood of the Gods, you even had the gall to speak of us as enemies in a speech to the entire village!”

“I'm afraid those are the difficult political realities,” said the Kusakage as he absently stroked the lip piercing of the blue-haired woman on his right. “ You need to keep Sarutobi and Shimura happy in your village, I have my own factions to balance. What would you consider to be an appropriate compensation, then?”

“The Box of Paradise,” said Indra shortly and enjoyed the way the Kusakage’s eyes bulged. “Not to keep,” he held up a hand. “But when the time comes, and it will come, you will open the box.”

The Kusakage raised a single eyebrow. “Putting aside the question of how you know about the Box, all you ask is for a promise it will one day be opened at your request?”

“Not just that,” said Indra as a thought struck him. “I want any intelligence Kusa has on a group called the Akatsuki.”

As the Kusakage spoke, Indra suddenly put two and two together and whatever the leader of the Grass was saying was rendered meaningless. The Akatsuki, their known members, their distinctive features…He turned, achingly slowly to the blue-haired woman with the lip piercing and the black backless robe. He met her amber eyes and knew, with horrible certainty, who she was.

“Konan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kurama's doing his best Darth Sidious here, trying to get Naruto to give in to anger, for Sasuke to prove to him that all Uchiha are wicked. Just pushing all the buttons. The whole swap back-and-forth thing isn't something that can happen that easily in canon, but I wanted to have this be a "test run" where Kurama and Naruto are feeling each other out, trying to decide where they stand with each other. I struggled with how much Naruto was going to object to Murder, but I wanted it to be a descending ramp. That decapitated chunin was killed in blind rage, the killer nurse was to stop her from killing a patient, and then he starts to push back as his anger lessens. On the contrary, Karin's got a whole lot of baggage based on anger and fear. In canon, she kills the same chunin Naruto decapitated as revenge for making her into a bite factory, so she's got some of that hidden anger. Kurama just hits the MURDER button because it solved his problems 100% of the time right up until it didn't. Meanwhile, the Chekov's Gun I setup back at Madame Juo's finally pays off. Konan was spying on them the whole time! Muahahaha! She also wears a very...interesting outfit underneath her Akatsuki robes, which is what she's wearing as a disguise here. 
> 
> The Box of Paradise contains a powerful, practically invulnerable demon and shows up in the Naruto: Blood Prison movie as an ancient super weapon of the Land of Grass. Indra has his own plans for it, mainly because it was MIA when the Otsusuki showed up, and that's some serious firepower to have up your sleeve. Grass had deemed the Box to be a Bad Idea, so official state policy was to never, ever open it, never even speak of it. Indra found out because in the first timeline, Naruto mentions it while watching old horror movie and eating crackers. (I should probably add that to the Ch, but it's late.)
> 
> Murderous nurses are a thing IRL, and there's been some fairly gnarly cases where the body count gets very high. It's a whole psych thing called the "Angel of Mercy". TBH, I feel like this chapter could use another editing pass or two, but I've missed updates several weeks in a row and wanted you, dear readers, to have something. Still, there's a fairly solid skeleton of Plot and Character connection tendons here to build a body and-I'm losing the metaphor. Remember to comment on what you enjoyed or felt could be improved! Feedback makes me want to write more, after all!


	42. Mission to Grass: Fly You Fools!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra tries to get through to Konan under the Kusakage's nose while elsewhere, the Mission to the Land of Waves plays out very differently.

Konan of the Akatsuki, the Lady Angel, Spymistress of the Hidden Rain Village smiled and offered Indra her hand. “It seems my reputation precedes me.”

Her soft voice turned coquettish. “Am I to be added to the list of fantastic and impossible things Indra Uchiha desires? Why, I am but a mere courtesan!”

“Oho!” chuckled the Kusakage as he folded his way back into the other women around the table of his garden, who plied him with smiles and wandering hands. “Well, by all means, Uchiha-san,” he waved at a very comfortable-looking lounge on the opposite side of the table, “Enjoy yourself, if the lady pleases.”

“She does,” said Konan as she sank onto the couch and crossed one leg over another in a way that would make most men sweat buckets. It had no effect on Indra, but he pretended it did, shuffling in place before draping his cloak and sword over the lounge, carefully within reach. He hovered, not needing to fake the awkwardness as he lay down on the couch. One of Konan’s manicured fingers turned his head to look into her eyes, and he was careful to deactivate his Sharingan. “I assume this is a paper clone, then,” he said quietly into her ear and was rewarded with a noise of disgust from the woman. “Please, as if I would ever let that fumbling little man take such liberties with my form. Of course, it is.”

“Ah, careful, careful!” admonished the Kusakage as one of the other women peeled his grapes. “Konan reacts quite harshly if she isn’t pleased to her satisfaction.” He chuckled, “I’d say the life of a Kusa courtesan has given her high expectations.”

She smiled over Indra’s shoulder at him and the Uchiha didn’t have to see the expression to know how false it was. “The highest, my lord.”

Indra hummed in seeming contentment when what he really wanted to do was flee the scene, grab his children under his arms, and make for Konoha at all possible speed. Pieces started to fall into place. “So the previous Kusakage?” he asked quietly. They could play at this while she toyed with the buttons on his shirt, each seeking information on the other. It was a game he’d played before as Spymaster, one Jiraiya sometimes took to questionable lengths.

“Not me,” she said. “Kakuzu of Waterfall?”

“Not me,” he answered and meant it, though the question sprouted a whole host of questions of their own.

“What sweet things is she whispering in your ear, Indra?” asked the Kusakage idly.

Konan tittered, hiding her mouth behind her hand in the true courtesan style, that nebulous space between noblewoman and commoner’s etiquette. “Secrets not even you can know, my lord.”

She bent her knee, running a leg over Indra’s own, hooking it and ensuring he stayed on the bed. “But you’re welcome to guess.”

Indra’s hand drifted backwards, passing over her rear to ostensibly pull her closer. Out of sight, a thin, razor-sharp kunai dropped out of his sleeve and into his hand, pressed against the paper clone’s spine, ready to dispel her in an instant. The Kusakage winked at Indra. “See, Uchiha-san, all you needed was a good woman and all our differences melted away!”

“You’ll keep your word this time?” asked Indra and for a moment, the Kusakage’s face turned serious.

“If that is truly your asking price, then yes. It’s not like the box can be moved by mortal men.”

“What is this box?” asked one of the other girls as the Kusakage’s mood lightened along with the removal of his jacket. “An old legend, that’s all dear,” he soothed. “Some say it can grant a wish, but it hasn’t been opened in years, so its secrets are lost.”

“What kind of secrets?” asked Konan, feigning idle curiosity as the purple shirt under her fingers flopped open to reveal Indra’s muscled chest, marked with scars. Indra tapped her back with the kunai as a reminder.

“The secret of how Yumi here manages to stay so perky!” cheered the Kusakage as he buried his face between a girl’s breasts. He motioned with his hands, and the two other girls moved closer to busy themselves with the requested seduction.

Indra rolled his eye and Konan’s mask fell as she shared in his disdain for an instant. “I have a message for your immobile friend,” he whispered and felt Konan’s body tense. She rolled over, flinging them off the back of the little couch with a shriek of false excitement as her hand wrestled with Indra’s for the kunai. Despite her slim figure, the paper clone had surprising strength and Indra jerked his head sideways as several sheets of paper folded away from her and went for his throat. They missed and Indra bashed his head against them, crushing the paper under his head. “Would you at least listen to the message?” he hissed.

She frowned at him, real uncertainty visible as their legs locked together, each seeking leverage against the other. From the other side of the couch, it looked reasonably like sex. Probably. “Tell me your secrets,” she said playfully but with a core of real anger, and only half of that was meant for the Kusakage’s ears.

“Tch, a gentleman never kisses and tells.” Indra lowered his voice back into a seductive register “But there was this one book you might want to find. The Tale of the Gutsy Shinobi. I’m told it’s quite the read.”

Konan’s hand slackened slightly and Indra tossed the kunai into the undergrowth, where it disappeared without a sound. Newly liberated, his hand shot up to pull her down, dragging her roughly closer as the clone readied something sharp. “Madara is not his name,” he whispered, “but he is our enemy as he seeks to use your friend for his own ends. In that, at least, we can be allies.”

“Why do you care? You’ve been trying to wipe us out!” she hissed.

“Because your friend is an Uzumaki as well,” said Indra calmly. To her credit, Konan turned her gasp of realization into something far breathier. “No way,” she trilled, as Indra let her pull away and sit up. She could still stab him, but he needed to gain her trust, or at least her tacit understanding. She giggled and widened her eyes meaningfully as Indra realized he’d been very silent, letting out a moan of his own, even as his face turned red. He could play this game very well, but it didn’t mean he liked it.

“Well, that’s certainly big,” said Konan, shifting her position as the paper sword in her hand integrated back into the rest of the clone out of the Kusakage’s sight. “Let’s test that out.”

She ground down, rolling her hips, and Indra glared at her. “Very funny, but that’s not going to work on me.”

She gave a genuine laugh then, soft and surprisingly gentle. “Oh, I think this is all working quite well Indra-san. Why, aren’t you-interested?“ she rolled her hips again and Indra resisted the urge to burn the clone to ash as he moaned. His hand gripped her thigh hard enough to bruise and combined with the glare was a clear signal to _cut that shit out._

She pouted down at him, but her eyes told the truth. She was unsettled and was trying to re-establish control of the situation. “Aww, does Indra-san like to play rough? Should I go get my special toys?” A retreat, tactical or otherwise, but it would get them out of this ridiculous game neither of them wanted to bother with anymore.

“Lead the way,” he said.

She dragged him to his feet as Indra buttoned some of his shirt and glared down at the traitorous organ between his legs, which was obviously erect even through his trousers. At least his cloak let him maintain his dignity, though Konan smirked all the way up the stairs.

The moment the door closed behind them, in a very comfortable-looking guest bedroom, the paper clone dissolved, hundreds of sheets of paper moving through the air to cover the walls, ceiling, and door, sweeping for hidden listening devices or jutsu transmission seals. Indra scanned the area with his Sharingan and found a recording seal underneath the headboard of the bed, which he burnt to destruction. Konan’s head formed out of a bundle to glare at him as the fire sprinkler above him was cut in half, releasing a light rain that dampened her paper and muffled sound. Indra ran his hands through a genjutsu he’d picked up during a trip to the Sand Village, simulating muffled laughter and the sounds of whatever sex they should have been having. “Useful,” admitted the paper clone. “One moment, she’ll be here in five seconds. She wants to interrogate you herself.”

“Not sure I like the sound of that.”

The clone shot him a nasty look. “You brought this on yourself.” The head dissolved back into paper as a small origami butterfly squeezed its way in through two slats of the window, the paper parting to allow it passage. It unfolded again and again until a woman in a black cloak stood before him, her amber eyes cold and flatly assessing. Indra inclined his head in a gesture of respect. “A pleasure to meet you in the flesh, Spymaster Konan.”

“The feeling is not mutual,” she snapped. “Madara-“

“That’s not his name.”

“That Uchiha bastard’s been twitchy ever since he met you, Indra Uchiha. He tries to hide it, but I notice. What did you do in five seconds that left such an impression?”

Indra grimaced. “You mean besides create an intelligence failure that nearly doomed the planet? I tried to kill him and just put a hole in my own bedroom.”

Konan ruminated on that as she crossed to a chair and sat. Indra followed suit, landing heavily on the bed and realized how tired he felt, so he let the feeling express itself with a sigh. His Naruto, when he’d spoken of Konan, had done so with regret and obvious guilt, that Obito had killed her before her promised alliance with the Hidden Leaf had come to fruition. Later on, he’d seen Amegakure suffer without her stabilizing influence and strong governance. Kara had a base in the Hidden Rain and had operated there for some time, taking advantage of the relative anarchy the small state had nurtured inside its borders. The woman who sat across from him would not have permitted such a travesty to occur in her nation and Indra found himself wishing, once again, that Naruto had been sent back instead of him.

“So why are you here?” He looked up to see Konan fingering a paper shuriken he hadn’t seen her fold and shook himself back into alertness. Nostalgia was only going to make him sloppy and while unlikely, it could get him killed. He decided a guarded honesty was the best middle ground.

“I’m fulfilling a promise I made to an old friend who saved my life more times than I can count. If he saved me, it’s only fair that I save what remains of his clan.”

“The Uzumaki are gone.”

Indra allowed a smirk onto his face, knowing it would either infuriate or make her curious. “They said the same of the Uchiha, yet there still seem to be quite a few of us left. How is Nagato, anyway? I’d inquire after the Amekage’s health, except you might take it as a threat.”

“That’s-“

“A state secret? That you’re still pretending Hanzo’s in charge while you root out the last of his sympathizers? Yes, it was quite clever, but you’re allowing ‘Madara’ free reign of an entire country.”

Konan’s eyes flashed and she stood up. “Amegakure is self-sufficient, we don’t give that worm any input on the village’s policies! I shut him out completely.”

Indra commiserated. “But somehow, he keeps finding his way into things, doesn’t he? Very slippery bastard to keep track of, so you have my sympathies.”

“Stop trying to change the subject,” she said. “You said Nagato is an Uzumaki, how could you possibly know that? Just because he has red hair-“

“The Rinnegan did not come to him by chance,” said Indra. “I’m still not sure if it’s the Gods, or fate, or even just the Sage’s permission, but those eyes are even more special than you know. I don’t have proof yet, but I know where to find it. Until then for all our sakes, Konan, guard him well.”

“Again, why do you care?” hissed the blue-haired kunoichi. “You Uchiha, with your mysteries and riddles and superiority! Well, I’m telling you what Nagato should have told Madara the second time and every time after that. Get out!”

A lightbulb went off in Indra’s brain. “You love him,” he breathed, expression softening as he looked up at Konan’s furious expression. “You really do love him, and you don’t know why.”

The paper shuriken embedded itself in his shoulder, but he ignored it, the realization hitting him like a tsunami. “We’re the exact same,” he said. “Following the memory of our Uzumaki until some uncertain end, even if it dooms us. Because we loved them.”

Indra frowned, not at Konan, but at himself. “There’s something I can feel I’m supposed to say,” he muttered. “Something that will make you realize we don’t have to be enemies. Dammit!”

He punched the bed in sudden anger as paper flew off the walls to shield Konan with two wings of angelic beauty.

“What are you even saying?” she asked.

Indra dragged a hand down his face, pulling away his eyepatch to reveal the spiderweb of scars and the empty eye socket. To Konan’s credit, she took in the sight without any visible reaction. “I know I may not look it,” he said. “But I’m old and tired. I fucked up raising my daughter and now I’m trying to make it up to my family by bringing a couple others back together. Ideally, you and Nagato help. You’re smart and he’s strong. You understand the failures of the village system and that family matters no matter where you find it. I heard there was a family here who was being abused by the Hidden Grass, and I sold the Kusakage something very valuable just to get them out.”

He looked up and for an instant, Konan could see something inside the empty blackness of that eyesocket. Something purple and familiar. Then it was gone as Indra looked away, wrapping the eyepatch back around his head and absently trying it with one hand. “Your turn,” he said. “Why are you here? Honestly.”

“I’m not here on a mission for the Akatsuki,” she said. “I’m here as Spymistress for the Hidden Rain. A neighboring country goes through a succession crisis and then Stone sends a regiment over their border? Amegakure is not so secure we could ignore the implications of such events, Uchiha. You old clans, with your old nations…Do you understand the fear you inspire? All I-“

She paused, embarrassed at the admission, but kept going. “All we want is to just live our lives! Why can’t some people understand that?”

Indra shrugged as they ruminated in silence for a while, each spy digesting the frank admissions of the other.

“You ever get tired, Konan?”

The stunning woman raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, tired in your bones, so tired you want to go to sleep and never wake up again?”

Konan’s voice was suddenly hoarse. “Yes.”

“The people I love keep me going. The living and the dead. Granted, some of that is out of love and some of it’s guilt-based, so take that with a grain of salt. Some days, I want to stay in bed and sleep until my empty eye socket stops itching, some days, the flame catches and I want to burn the world down around me in fury, that it persists with such injustices inside itself.”

“Is there a tavern between now and the point?” asked Konan as she thought about how similar that description was of Nagato’s moods.

“The point is, until someone comes running with accusations that my children have eaten half-a-dozen chunin or burned down the Hidden Grass, I am going to take another nap.”

Konan looked over at the quietly ticking clock on the mantlepiece and made a face. “I don’t want to have to send a paper clone back out there to be fawned over by that lech and had to fly all the way here from Madame Juo’s thanks to you.”

She sagged back into her chair, letting her muscles relax. “I’ll take you up on that offer. That way, when I say we slept together, Madara won’t catch the lie.”

Indra was staring at the ceiling. “The bed’s more comfortable and you won’t get a crick in your neck.”

“Fuck off, I’m not going to actually sleep with you.”

“Oh for the Gods sakes, I’m gay!”

It took a moment for the comment to sink in, but Konan shook her head. “So that whole seduction in front of the Kusakage?”

“Unnecessary. The hip-rolling especially so.”

Konan had the grace to look embarrassed and jackknifed to her feet, striding over to the bed to discard her cloak in two quick folds. As she threw it back to land neatly on the chair, the Uchiha looked at the skintight backless dress with some astonishment. “Wait, you actually wore that?”

Konan made her way to the unoccupied side of the bed and followed his example, collapsing into the pillows with a sound of gratitude. “One, it’s a disguise and two, can’t a girl look nice?”

Indra made a noncommittal noise. His husband wouldn’t know fashion if it hit him with a rasenshuriken, but Sakura had often asked for Indra/Sasuke’s opinion on everything from lingerie to a new jacket. He’d learned this particular arena was not for him. “Aesthetically, yes. Now can we sleep?”

Despite herself, Konan was slightly disappointed, but the exhaustion of three days dealing with the Kusakage had worn her out and she fell asleep soon after Indra.

___________________________________

She’d expected him to try something, some genjutsu, an attack, or even to escape, but Konan’s paper clone woke her softly two hours later. “Someone at the door is asking for Indra-san.” Amegakure’s Spymistress rose without a sound and examined the man who’d been sleeping next to her. His hair was shoulder-length and getting longer, with the calculated unkemptness of someone who knew a little roughness could open far more doors than they closed. The face that had born a perpetual frown of one sort or another had smoothed out at sleep’s caress, and it made him seem young. Or perhaps it was the scars that made him seem old. The purple shirt that she’d unbuttoned still hung across his frame and without the largess of his cloak, she could see he was skinny, verging on slight, but whipcord-strong with muscle. The marks of many blades dotted his chest and a shiny patch just above his pants spoke of an acid burn that hadn’t healed properly.

For her part, Konan had scars of her own, but they were entirely mental. Her skin remained unblemished, though sometimes, she felt as if that was cheating. She valued her beauty for its own sake as well as a tool to be used against lecherous fools, but…Indra Uchiha’s scars spoke honestly of a lifetime of combat, of dirty deeds witnessed and performed in equal measure. By contrast, Konan was viewed as the pristine “Lady Angel” of Amegakure, intercessor between the civilians of the Rain and their God-King. Not that she and Nagato had appreciated either of those titles, but they’d learned to lean into them, accepting their roles if it kept the villagers happy and peaceful. Indra Uchiha seemed to want the same things, but Konan refused to allow another of that damnable clan to harm her friend, her village, her life. Trust was tempting, especially after such vulnerability, but she had sworn to never allow her weakness to be shown to anyone other than Yahiko and Nagato.

Konan kicked Indra off the edge of the bed and he squawked in an undignified manner as his knees and elbow hit the floor. “They’re asking for you,” she informed the Konoha ninja dryly.

“Of course they are,” he rolled his eye, buttoning his shirt with one hand and toeing back into his sandals. “One thing I don’t miss is the stiffness in my joints,” he said incongruously. “Enjoy your youth while it lasts Konan.”

Her eyes narrowed, searching the statement for any condescension or barb, but found none. She put one manicured hand on the door, almost regretful at leaving the brief instant in time they’d found to relax in. “Any more cryptic comments you want to squeeze in before we head out? Stunning revelations? You’ve certainly given me enough to report already.”

Indra weighed the various pros and cons of any messages he could pass on, because no matter how trustworthy he wanted this woman to be, his words would almost certainly be conveyed to the rest of the Akatsuki and a certain Masked Madman. Still, perhaps it would be a good idea to rattle their cages…

“Tell Kisame Hoshigaki that his sisters are disappointed in him. Zetsu’s mother was a dumb whore with an ass the size of the moon, and tell Itachi Uchiha ‘sorry, maybe next time’.” The Uchiha fished around in his pocket and finally pulled out a battered and crumpled envelope, with the Uzushio spiral in the center of it. He offered it to Konan, who looked at it with suspicion. “You can scan it, sniff it, seal it, whatever, but this is an ordinary letter, with ordinary paper and ink for Nagato.”

“What’s it say?”

“It’s an invitation for a family reunion, of course,” said Indra as if the spiral made it blatantly obvious. “I know it’s the longest of the long-shots, and it was originally a fail-safe if the Uzumaki in this village didn’t want to come with us, but, well, now you’re here.” He shot her a bitter smile. “It’s clear the Gods have nasty senses of humor.”

Konan reached out with her chakra as she took the slip and it was indeed, to all her senses, an ordinary piece of paper. “I’m all the family he has left,” she snapped, jealous of infringement upon her territory, but Indra only looked at her with understanding as they felt a cluster of chakra signatures approach the door alongside a tremendous racket. “Isn’t that something he should decide for himself?”

Konan flung the door open, more to end the conversation rather than confront whatever new trouble that awaited them. That trouble took the form of three bruised Konoha genin and a small redhead all with defiant looks, surrounded by a phalanx of twenty Grass chunin.

_________________________

**_This looks really bad doesn’t it,_** thought Inner Sakura as her Outer self harangued the Grass Chunin’s overly restrictive grips. They were barely teenagers and surrounded by superior ninja, surely they could walk to Indra-sensei’s location rather than be dragged, but no, today was piling indignity upon indignity. Naruto was tied up in some kind of shimmering rope, and was protesting less on his own behalf than on Karin’s. The girl, who’d been chatty, had gone absolutely silent as soon as the Grass-nin had grabbed her and both Sakuras suspected that the girl was teetering between frightened silence and an apocalyptic breakdown similar to Naruto’s. Only a hurried statement from Sakura and Sasuke that the girl was under Konoha’s protection had kept them together and relatively unharmed. Still, Sakura fretted that being caught in the middle of breaking the legs of a dozen Grass Anbu would be difficult for their sensei to explain in any circumstance-

Sakura’s train of thought launched itself off the tracks and exploded as the door opened and the most beautiful woman in the world-there was no other word for it- _stalked_ out of the bedroom. She looked down her nose at the Grass chunin and their prisoners with all the disdain of a damiyo’s wife, despite wearing the most revealing dress Sakura had ever seen in her life.

“Release them!” the woman barked, her tone imperious and sharp as the chunin dropped them like the Konoha-nin had set themselves on fire. Naruto and Karin were babbling thanks, but that was distant background noise as Inner Sakura lifted both her hands and smashed them down on an enormous button she’d been waiting to press for weeks. “G-Girls…” stammered Sakura as her eyes opened to new vistas. Specifically, the pale bellybutton peeking out from black straps and just…wow. Inner Sakura took pity on her Outer self and shut down the connection between their mouth and their brain before anything more embarrassing spilled out. She couldn’t do anything about the blushing, though.

The woman turned away, granting the assembled ninja a view of a toned back that gave Sakura a slight nosebleed even as she remembered where she’d seen a dress like that before.

“You’re that lady we saw before!” she exclaimed. “The one from Madame Juo’s!”

The woman put a hand up and tittered even though her eyes drilled into Sakura’s skull, telling her to _shut up right now_ without the aid of anything as crass as genjutsu. “Oh, little shinobi, how adorable. Indra-san, this is your problem not mine!” she called back into the room as she stalked towards a rumpled bed and threw on a cloak with red clouds. Indra, who was smirking like a cat who’d eaten all the cream, sauntered around and leaned on the doorway. His face turned grave when he saw their expressions and suddenly he was amongst them, dragging the rope away from Naruto, clapping Sasuke on the shoulder as the younger Uchiha’s face turned white with horrified realization. He waved his empty sleeve in Sakura’s face. “Hey, Sakura, Karin? You girls alright?”

Sakura’s brain lurched back into operation with a shudder and grinding of gears. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m ok sensei,” she chirped reflexively while sneaking a look over his shoulder. The blue-haired woman, who Sakura now realized they’d definitely seen at Madame Juo’s, had picked up Indra’s sword and was examining it with a detached sort of curiosity. Her sensei, who was in the middle of comforting a nearly hysterical Karin crying into his shoulder, simply held out his hand and the weapon flew into his grasp without a sound. Sakura ducked as the scabbarded sword flew over her head and when she looked back, the woman was gone. The only trace of her presence was a small butterfly flapping its way out between the slits of a window.

“So who was that, uncle?” asked Sasuke, in a tone that said he already suspected the answer and desperately wanted it to be anyone else. Indra smirked again. “A professional associate,” he said simply as several of the Grass chunin sniggered. “So, I’m assuming by the fact that Naruto isn’t covered in blood that things went well? Good job all of you, by the way.”

The closest chunin glowered back at Indra. “The thanks are appreciated, Uchiha-san, but what kind of monsters–“

“If you finish that sentence,” said Indra with a suddenly blazing red eye and deathly calm, “I will set you on fire. But I was complimenting my students, not you peons.”

Sakura felt a mixed sense of pride and embarrassment churn inside her, but Inner Sakura helped keep their face impassive. One of the chunin who’d held her bristled. “Now listen here, you Konoha dog!” he snarled. “We’ve got Councilor Soria’s sworn testimony that the blonde brat killed a Specialist Jonin and a nurse, then took out the Anbu squad scrambled to stop his bloody swathe. When we caught up, your students had broken the legs of at least twelve unconscious Anbu! That’s enough to put you all away for life, and you think being a bigshot from a Great Nation is going to help, then you still haven’t realized that Grass is done being pushed around!” There were cheers and snarls of agreement from all around them as the twenty-some ninja jostled threateningly around them, but their sensei didn’t even look up.

Indra raised an eyebrow. “Children, explain yourselves. Preferably without getting downstairs tenants involved.”

Karin looked confused, but the slight nods from Team Seven showed they’d understood and their sensei swept back his bedhead and allowed himself a small internal sigh of relief.

“What’s going on here?”

Indra looked up to see the Kusakage approaching, surrounded by several of his courtesans, Councilor Sorai, the Sound Five, and a smirking Konan. _I jinxed it, didn’t I_? the Uchiha thought with resignation. The chunin was explaining, Naruto and Sakura were shouting over him, and the general cacophony made his ears ring. Tayuya gestured and the sound lowered by at least a decibel, only returning to normal once the Kusakage motioned he would speak, any remaining cheer in his eyes swiftly fading.

“So, Naruto Uzumaki, please correct me if I have misunderstood the situation. After a dangerous battle, and after turning over your relative to your custody, you repaid the Grass Village’s hospitality by killing one of my Specialist Chunin, routed a hospital, a place of healing, killed a nurse, and sought out other civilians to punish, even crippling a squad of Anbu when they tried to halt you? I would love to hear how three genin and a little girl managed that.”

Naruto’s eyes blazed and he strode forward to point an accusing finger at the Kusakage, the rest of Team Seven backing him up. “Hey, if you think this was hospitality, you’re a pretty bad host! Karin’s mom died saving your ninja an’ you don’t even care! That nurse was gonna kill the guy in the hospital, so we stopped her, and those Anbu were bad news too! Karin asked me to kill them-“

Indra’s head whipped around in alarm.

“-But I didn’t, so you should be grateful, y’know? We fought off a buncha Stone ninja, when we didn’t have to, gave you your dumb old sword and a fat bribe, and you still want to mess with us?” Naruto brought his hands up and the room filled with shadow clones. “C’mon!”

The Kusakage’s look of surprise lasted for an instant, but Indra relished it all the same as he parted the sea of blonde heads and stepped towards the Kusakage, hands carefully away from any weapons. “Lord Kusakage, tempers are high in the Land of Fire, and the day has been long indeed. We are all exhausted from the fighting and the celebrations alike, so perhaps it is best if we reconvene to discuss this at another time.” He caught the glares and muttered protests from the ninja around them and amended. “Or perhaps we should simply take our leave, rather than overstay our welcome.”

“I believe you have already overstayed it,” said the Kusakage. “But you are correct, enough blood has been spilled today that I am not eager to shed more, especially under my own roof. Yet the Grass must take a stand on this matter, lest the other Great Nations think us vulnerable still. I will not have my reign as Kusakage marked by such blatant disrespect and slaughter.”

There was silence as he thought, before the Kusakage turned to the Sound Five beside him. “Our terms?”

“Still stand,” said Kimimaro as his eyes bored into Indra’s.

“Very good. Tayuya-san, your first mission then as contractors for the Grass Village is to drive these Leaf Shinobi out and hound them to the border. In consideration for your youth,” he said, addressing Team Seven’s horrified faces, “we shall give you a ten-second head start.”

“Oh, that’s BULLSHIT!” exploded Sakura before covering her mouth with her own hands.

“Nine,” counted the Kusakage. “Eight.”

“Karin,” asked Indra in a casual manner, “Is there anything else you needed to collect before we left the village?”

The redhead’s expression trembled as she thought. “Well, there’s a few books in my mom’s house I’d like to keep.”

“Excellent,” said Indra. “Sakura, Naruto, on my mark.”

“Six.” Said the Kusakage as Kidōmaru shot Team 7 a feral grin.

“Dispel!”

The shadow clones dissipated in a massive puff of smoke as Indra and Sakura let lose with several debilitating genjutsu. Sasuke more or less slung Karin onto his back with her shriek of excitement as his Great Fireball annihilated the bedroom wall. They leapt out of the smoking crater first, Karin screaming semi-coherent directions into Sasuke’s ear as they headed down the road. Naruto and Sakura were close behind as Indra flung Foxfang into the Uzumaki’s waiting hands. His eye bled and a wall of black flame filled the hole in the wall, stalling any pursuit still further as Grass chunin screamed about massive bugs in their eyes. He even put a hand to the wall and sucked the electricity out of the lights for good measure. The last thing he saw before running after his team was Konan, still lurking behind the Kusakage’s horrified courtesans. She met his eye through the black flame and the darkness and winked.

 _That cheeky bitch,_ thought Indra in reluctant admiration. _Now she’s having fun._

Soon enough Team Seven reached the outskirts of the village, where the forest gave way to grasslands and a small hut stood next to a well-tended garden. Sasuke groaned when Karin clambered off his back to rush inside. “Ughhh, Naruto, you carry her next. She’s your cousin or whatever and all of this is your fault.”

Naruto looked momentarily hurt, but Sakura’s hand on his shoulder took the sting out of the words. “Well Sasuke, you couldn’t wait to chop up up that abusive asshole, so you really should be thanking me and get off your high horse.”

“My high horse? I’m not the one who-“

Indra’s eye was scanning the horizon, watching for movement, but he spared a moment to whirl around and point imperiously at Team Seven. “First of all, there’s no _fault_ here. Blood of the Gods, Naruto if you hadn’t killed that chunin, back there, I would have, on general principal. But once we get out of here, I want the full story, especially the part about Karin wanting to kill a squad of Anbu.”

The boys nodded meekly and Sakura sank down onto a nearby rock to massage her sandaled feet. “More running, great. Sensei, can’t you just summon Karura-kami again?”

“Tch, that’s the weakness of powerful summons. I can’t summon him again for another day at least, maybe more.”

“Why not?”

Indra was fidgeting with the handle of his sword. “Would you like it if you kept getting summoned in the middle of a bath or a good book? No, the Summoning Creatures have their own lives to live, their own agendas. We’ll have to manage this on our own for now.”

Sakura’s voice was apprehensive. “Well, can we? I mean, they seemed pretty strong when we were travelling with them, and they’ll want to go after you through us. It’s the most obvious move.”

Indra pointed at the cluster of dots moving in their direction. “Excellent analysis Sakura, but don’t be too worried. Your sensei still has a few tricks up his sleeve.” He waved his stump and Sakura found herself giggling at the horrible joke, even if her laughter was a touch hysterical.

“How long have you been waiting to use that line?”

“Oh, years.”

Karin appeared in the doorway of the hut, her hands covered in dirt, but bearing a red book and a shining, golden pendant that she immediately tucked into her shirt out of sight. “Okay, I’m ready.” The girl’s face set in determination. “Let’s get out of this crummy village.”

____________________________________________________

Two thousand miles away, Zabuza Momochi swallowed heavily. He must have misheard. This had to be a copycat, or a sophisticated genjutsu. He shifted his chakra several times, attempting to throw off the illusion, but the man with the bowl cut, green tights, and ridiculous smile was still there.

“Well, well, Zabuza Momochi!” said the Konoha ninja with a grin. “I’ve heard all about you, they say you’re The Demon of the Hidden Mist.” He adopted a fighting stance and it took all of Zabuza’s considerable willpower to not flinch. “Well, Konoha’s Noble Green Beast will challenge you, if that is the only way to protect my client.”

“This isn’t an exhibition match,” snapped Zabuza, his temper getting away from him as it tried to smother his fear. “I’m getting paid to kill that bridge-builder and you’re getting paid to keep him alive. It’s just business, so let’s not pretend we’re anything more than tools of slaughter.”

This was something of a lie. They’d taken the job because Terumi Mei’s rebellion, his rebellion, was on the back foot and needed Gato’s money and supply lines if it was to survive the year. Zabuza didn’t believe in much, but he did believe in Mei, if only from a distance.

“Well,” scoffed Might Guy, “that’s just the sort of attitude I’d expect from one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, especially a rogue one. How unyouthful!”

Zabuza’s hands tightened on Kukiribōrō’s handle as he remembered his mentor’s hushed stories of the man who’d slaughtered five of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen in the Third World War. Both men spared a moment to look for their respective wards, only to see Haku ricocheting off of a series of ice mirrors as Rock Lee sent the boy back into Neji’s waiting Gentle Fist.

“I’d appreciate it if your students left mine alive,” he said shortly. “Good help can be difficult to come by.”

Guy beamed again, this time with tears in his eyes. “Well, isn’t that touching! The Demon has a heart after all!”

“Shut up!” Six water clones materialized around Guy and were kicked back into oblivion just as quickly. Some of the water still had bootprints on it. Zabuza couldn’t take it any longer, he had to know, even if it was just to confirm that sinking feeling in his stomach. “You’re name, you related to Might Duy, by chance?”

For the first time, the bowlcut’s smile disappeared. “He was my father.”

“Well then,” said Zabuza with a fanged smile, “Looks like Haku and I are screwed either way, aren’t we?”

Chains dropped around him and tightened their grip almost instantly. The Mist-nin’s head jerked around to reveal a girl with hair buns straining against a tree as a fulcrum. “Get him sensei!”

Guy saluted. “My thanks, Tenten!”

Zabuza watched Konoha’s taijutsu specialist approach and tried not to feel like a training dummy in for the worst beating of his life…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of the reason this chapter took so long is because I struggled with writing Konan's conversation, finding the right balance of cynical bitterness and aggrieved idealism. What little we get of her character and powers are fascinating, but Kishimoto just doesn't know how to write women as anything other than love interests really. SMH. So I tried to balance her devotion/love of Nagato with her position as a member of the Akatsuki and as Hidden Rain's Spymaster/Shadow Amekage. The latter two positions aren't canon, but the woman was smart enough to nearly kill Obito through his plot armor and Nagato couldn't run the Hidden Rain all alone. Also, I wanted Indra to partially fail at Talk no Jutsu, but still find enough common ground accidentally by approaching the Hidden Rain from his own angle. 
> 
> Hopefully I'm striking a balance between allowing moments to breathe and moving things along. Next chapter will be a little more laid-back so the characters have time to digest the numerous revelations they've had. The ending part with Zabuza has been sitting in my head for a while, and I'm just glad I found a place to put it to close out the chapter.


	43. Mission to Grass: Inland Ocean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indra fights off the Sound Four, but Team Seven has drawn the eye of higher powers than the Kusakage. The Nine-Tails has a busy night.

Indra had trained Team 7 to the best of his abilities, keeping in mind their limitations as genin. Still, he was proud of how fast they were running, arms out behind them as they rebounded off of trees, rocks, and shacks, making themselves as hard to hit as possible. The Sound Five were following the Kusakage’s orders with gusto, sending volleys of spider-spit kunai, conventional ninja tools, and finger-bone after the Konoha ninja, herding them together whenever the children tried to split away under the cover of either Sasuke’s fireball, Naruto’s shadow clones, or Sakura’s genjutsu.

Indra had Karin on his back and his sword arm was in a constant defensive motion. A pair of kunai trailing explosive tags sailed over their heads and Indra’s sword sliced the tags in two as Karin screamed and clung tighter to his shoulders. “Don’t worry,” said Indra, calling ahead to his students as well as Karin. “This is easy, think of it as a live-fire training exercise.”

“Not helping, sensei!” retorted Sakura as Naruto swung Foxfang in a batter’s stance, sending a sizeable boulder back at Jirōbō, who headbutted it into dust with a grin.

“Yeah, they’re getting closer!” said Sasuke as he deflected several yellowish bones.

Indra spun his hands through seven signs, an extravagant amount for most jutsu, but not this own. “Close your eyes Karin, Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!”

The avalanche of fire that roared from his mouth was enormous, but a spinning projectile the size of a man passed through the flames without injury, parting them easily. With a brief pulse of chakra to anchor Karin, Indra backflipped away as the missile embedded itself where he’d been a second before and took the opportunity to run several hundred feet further away. His ankles splashed through water and he realized he was ankle deep in one of the small streams that ran through Grass Country.

The projectile resolved itself into Kimimaro, who stalked towards Indra’s muddy location. His skin had gone dark, his eyes yellow, and he now sported both a tail and an enormous boney drill on his left hand.

“Finally,” said the man with relish evident underneath his monotone. “I can finally claim revenge for Orochimaru-sama.”

“Sure you will,” said Indra. “How’re you doing back there?”

It took Karin a moment to realize Indra was addressing her, but then she gulped. “I’m okay, I guess.”

“I know he looks scary,” said Indra as he flourished his sword, “but you have to believe me, I won’t let them take you.”

“Thanks?”

“Don’t ignore me!” Kimimaro charged forward as his drill began to rotate, a torrent of Wind chakra propelling him forward. Indra waited, his eye tracking where Kimimaro’s path would take him and stepped aside with a smile on his face as the man plowed into the thick mud of the riverbank with an explosion of clay. As he did so, the first faint notes of a flute reached his ears. His hand quickly flipped through a series of signs to turn Karin from a young little girl into a doddering old man with a two-layer transformation jutsu. Bare seconds after he’d put the finishing touches on the crow’s feet, Tayuya Uzumaki landed in front of him with a snarl.

“You really thought you could get outta here with your head attached?” she spat. “After what you did, after you fucking lied to me?”

“I never lied,” pointed out Indra as he edged around to put Kimimaro in his field of vision while the man struggled to remove his arm from the sucking mud. “You’re a B-Rank ninja of flexible allegiances, why would I need to tell you the purpose of our visit to Grass Country?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Tayuya with deep sarcasm. “Maybe because the Uchiha Bloodline Guardian would do me the common fucking courtesy of letting an Uzumaki rescue another Uzumaki?”

“Naruto Uzumaki saved me,” piped up a reedy old voice from Indra’s back. “He made it so the people who hurt me wouldn’t do that again. I didn’t see you there, lady.”

Tayuya’s eyes locked with the disguised Karin’s and she dispelled the genjutsu with ease. “Really, Indra?”

The man shrugged. “It was worth a shot. Besides, the girl has a point. We can offer her the protection of a Great Nation, somewhere safe to grow up, and a place where she isn’t viewed as a-“

He bit off what he was going to say. “Point is, she deserves better. What can you offer her besides an expanded vocabulary, Tayuya? Odd jobs, constantly moving across the Elemental Nations, hoping the hunter-nin don’t decide you five are an appetizing bounty?”

“Please,” she said with scorn. “You know as well as I what that protection is worth. She’s a woman of the Uzumaki clan!” retorted Tayuya, jabbing a finger at Indra and his passenger. “What, are you going to try and marry her off to your brat as a child bride?”

Indra couldn’t help it, he burst out into laughter. The idea was so absolutely ridiculous, he had to laugh. “You’ve been in Orochimaru’s dark tunnels too long, Tayuya-san,” he said with a trace of pity. “Have you forgotten what kindness feels like?”

The black jagged lines of her curse mark raced across her skin faster than Indra had ever seen it move. “Don’t you dare pity me!”

Indra intercepted her charge with a kick to the stomach, stabbed his sword into her hand, and used his now-free limb to throw her over his shoulder into Kimimaro, who had finally managed to remove his drill from the riverbank.

He turned around, hand crackling with lightning chakra to electrocute both of them, but saw Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura watching near the treeline ahead of him. It took effort to not sigh in despair with Karin on his back. Parenting book #1: _In times of crisis it is best to find a balance between treating your children as children, and as adults. They seek reassurance that the authority figures in their lives can respond to crises with calm, but do not wish to be patronized._

“Kids, what part of, ‘run like your pants are on fire don’t you understand?”

“Ahh don’t worry about it sensei, you’re kicking their butts!” cheered Naruto, pumping his fist in the air.

“To let you get away!” retorted Indra with a glare he hoped they could feel despite the distance. “The fact I can still see you means this plan is failing.”

Karin shivered on his back and clutched his shoulders tighter. “I’m glad I’m not going with them,” she muttered as the other Sound ninja released their Curse Marks. “Their chakra feels wrong.”

“Yeah, they could use a spa day,” muttered Indra as he held his hand out and his sword returned to him, accompanied by Tayuya’s screech of pain. To his surprise, Karin giggled. “My mom would- would’ve liked you. You’re funny.”

Indra had acquired a sense of humor somewhere along the way, he wasn’t sure when, but, like so many other things, he blamed it on Naruto. His brief reverie was spoiled as Jirobo’s Earth golem forded the stream, its hands outstretched greedily.

“Finally, a taste!” groaned the golem in Jirobo’s voice as Indra’s eye narrowed and he pointed his stump at the behemoth. “Taste oblivion,” he spat. “Chidori Spear!!”

A line of blue lightning stabbed through the golem, emerging out the other side as Jirobo laughed. “You missed!”

Indra’s stump became a blur as the line of light followed his movements, dicing the golem into several dozen blocks of stone and meat. His eye caught a tuft of orange hair and most of the head it was still attached to amidst the rubble and hoped Karin missed it.

Tayuya, however, did not. “Jirobo!” she wailed and suddenly she was on Indra like a whirling dervish, lashing out with claws, horns, fangs, feet, everything she had, determined to tear Indra’s throat out and snatch Karin away. She was fast, even for Indra and despite the restraint he’d shown with the woman so far, it became clear that she now intended to kill him. Indra thrust down, aiming for the meat of her thigh and realized, even as the blade travelled, that he had overextended in his haste to end the fight. His Sharingan granted him picture-perfect vision of the claws that would tear his throat out.

Except they didn’t.

Karin had jumped from his shoulders and was flailing impotently at Tayuya’s face, eyes bright with anger. “You said, you’re an Uzumaki?” she screamed, voice shrill. “Then go away!”

She fell to the ground as Indra recovered his blade into a guard position, ready to grab Naruto’s clanmate if Tayuya so much as twitched. But the woman was staring at Karin’s golden pendant, frozen in shock as the little girl’s chest heaved and she balled her fists. Tayuya fell to her knees in the stream and Indra realized she was shaking. “You-that’s…Tayuya’s expressions were a mixture of awe, joy, and homicidal fury as Karin edged slowly towards Indra, who had reached the opposite bank. “Where have the tides taken you?”

Karin collapsed and Indra swooped in to cradle her in between his arm and his stump.

“Far from the rocky shore and currents of her birth, Daughter of the Tides,” said Indra, reciting the other half of the phrase as a breeze kicked up.

Inside his golden cage, the Nine-Tailed Fox narrowed his eyes. **_Salt, this far inland…_**

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura moved as one, their hands moving through a sequence of signs none of them consciously knew. Tiger, Snake, Rat, Snake, Boar, Monkey, Dragon, Horse, Tiger.

Indra saw Tayuya’s fingers move through the signs as well, but Kimimaro’s scream of rage distracted him. The bone- man charged through the shallows as Kidōmaru strained at the draw of a bow as long as he was, gleaming speartips aimed at Indra. Karin was in his arms, he could not block. The Amaterasu couldn’t burn away something that big, moving that fast, and if he tried to dodge one trajectory, the other would adjust to spit him during the instant Indra was vulnerable.

The water was rising, past his thighs, up to his calves, even further still as Kimimaro came closer, the wind and sheer momentum of his charge carving through the growing wall of water.

“You’ll die by our hand, Uchiha!”

Fanged jaws of water came down on Kimimaro, dissolving as he thrashed against it. Then a pair of claws, then more teeth, the onslaught increasing as Kidōmaru’s arrow screamed from the bow, the air itself rent in its passing. Indra’s body crackled as he activated his lightning armor, the charge joining the torrent in front of him as he prepared to receive it. But the arrow never emerged from the torrent of water that had been a stream barely ankle-high.

The current swept on, foaming white with the fury of its passing as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura dropped from the trees to converge on their sensei. His mouth was hanging open, face a mask of naked shock as Karin wriggled out of his grasp. The sight of Kidomaru’s multi-limbed form readying another arrow brought him back to reality, but the branch the man had been standing on snapped, sending him tumbling to earth.

Indra retrieved his sword and examined the blood on it, which was not dripping from his sword to stain the mud. Instead, it writhed, dragging itself off his blade and into the torrent before them. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he sheathed it and turned to Kidōmaru, who was staring across the waters with fury and hatred in all three of his eyes.

“The odds are against you, Kidōmaru,” Indra called. “Your fellows, whatever the waters have left of them, are downstream. I suggest you go find them. Or,” he indicated the torrent. “Try to cross, and see what happens. We will be waiting for you on the other side.”

Next to him, Naruto and Sasuke brandished their weapons menacingly, while a storm of razor petals picked up around Sakura, the wind adding them to the blue and white of the river in a kaleidoscope of color.

The spider-man spat into the river, something yellow and vile, and vanished into a shunshin. Indra felt his presence vanish downstream as the flood moved on. Sakura peered closer as the water fell away from them, the river becoming a creek, then a stream once more. “It almost looks like it’s chasing him, sensei.”

“Probably because it is,” said Indra, turning to Naruto and Sasuke. “Now, which one of you idiots, went and made a blood oath after I specifically told you not to?”

Karin cocked her head. “What’s a blood oath?”

“A promise with enough baggage to fill a merchant train,” said the older Uchiha, running his hand through his hair. He paused and looked at it, then licked a finger. “Salt.”

As one, the Konoha ninja turned to regard the stream.

“Do you wanna taste it?” asked Naruto, elbowing Sasuke in the side.

“Why would I possibly want to taste it?”

“Why would you make a blood oath?” asked Indra without looking at them.

Sakura knelt and stuck her finger in the stream as the current pulled one of her petals away. She nodded when she tasted salt there as well. “Because,” she said, “if you’re trying to bring back two clans, you don’t start small.”

She stood and turned in one movement, glaring up into Indra’s face with a determined expression. “All this stuff, you and Madame Juo, and the Kusakage, and everyone else keep talking about, it sounds big. I know I’m just one ninja with no special name or power, but they’re going to need me! I’m not letting some big destiny junk get in our way! I swore to help them, and they swore to help me, so what if you’re calling it a blood oath!”

“Yeah!” piped up Karin.

Indra’s head swiveled between all four of the children in bewilderment as the reality of the situation sank in. “Raise your hand if Tayuya helped you perform a blood oath,” he said and was unsurprised to see all three of his genin sheepishly raise their hands.

“Should I do one?” asked Karin, glancing at Sakura and Sasuke.

“I am begging you, please do not,” said Indra as he patted his face where one of Tayuya’s punches would likely leave him with a black eye. “I think we’ve attracted enough supernatural attention in the past twenty-four hours.”

He cleared his throat and the Konoha genin snapped to attention. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. Naruto, you carry Karin on your back, Sakura, you carry Foxfang. Sasuke, you’ll take point while I try to decide what hideous punishment this deserves. Which reminds me.”

He pointed a finger at Karin, who squeaked like a mouse. “We’re talking about all your murder, don’t think I haven’t forgotten about that.”

“But-but you said killing that chunin was okay!” protested Naruto as Karin clambered onto his shoulders with a resigned expression and the ninja began to run.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t talk with all of you about it,” said his sensei.

All four of the children groaned in unison. “Is he seriously going to lecture us?” complained Karin.

Naruto shrugged. “Ehhh, that just means he’s worried about us. Welcome to the family! Heck of a first impression, y’know?”

“You guys certainly aren’t boring, I’ll give you that.”

_____________________________________________

Later that day, the sun had fallen far in the sky and Indra had, true to his word, run his genin absolutely ragged. To him, it was a moderate pace compared to the speed he could reach with lightning armor augmenting his muscles and reflexes, but the groans of effort as the genin and Karin all stretched out around the small campfire he’d lit were somewhat satisfying. Still, Indra wasn’t completely heartless and bustled around the camp pulling cookware and meals from their collective packs as he threw together a passable dinner. One positive aspect of his return to the past was that his husband would likely have just thrown them instant ramen packets and called that dinner. Despite how many decades his family had nagged him, he’d yet to break that addiction out of a combination of nostalgia and stubborn obstinacy. Team Seven’s arteries were doubtlessly grateful to Indra for his middling cooking skill, even if they didn’t know it.

He kept an eye on Karin as he cooked and was relieved that despite the events of the day, the little girl seemed to have lost her fear of Team Seven. She still jumped if Indra moved too quickly in her peripheral vision and he could feel the soft prickles of her chakra senses rubbing up against his own presence as she expanded her awareness out beyond their little clearing. The Uzumaki probably didn’t even consciously know she was doing it, but Indra was sure that she’d always been the first one to wake up during the night if a wild animal or a wandering drunk approached the shack the Grass-born Uzumaki had called home. Even now, Karin was looking around, taking stock of each detail of Team 7’s packs, the supplies in each, where they were located, and Indra knew it was a distinct possibility that she might run away from them in the night. If she truly wanted to leave them behind, Indra found himself torn on the best way to resolve such a situation, so he cast the thought out of his mind. Better make sure that doesn’t happen, then.

“Have you travelled before, Karin?”

“Huh?” The redhead turned and carefully kept her eyes lowered to not look him directly in the face. “I noticed you looking around, did you ever get the chance to travel?” Indra attempted a friendly smile and wasn’t sure how disarming it was, though the bowl of hot rice, chicken, and two different kinds of sauce certainly helped. Karin grabbed the bowl with both hands and began wolfing it down, the chopsticks nearly blurring with the speed of her hands.

Sakura chuckled and the other girl nearly choked as she swallowed heavily. “Sorry! It’s just- that healing stuff they had Mom do always made her really hungry and now I know why.” She resumed eating when Sakura laid back against her pack, accepting the bowl Sasuke handed her.

“No worries, Karin. Our Naruto here has even worse table manners and he eats just as much.”

A pink petal flicked out from behind her ear and intercepted a stray grain of rice that had flown away from Naruto’s mouth, launching back in the blonde’s general direction. “Despite our best efforts to teach him table manners.”

Naruto stuck out his tongue, which was mercifully empty. “I can be polite when I need to, I was polite with your parents, wasn’t I?”

“You did manage to cause a diplomatic incident today,” pointed out Sasuke over his dinner. “I’m sure Mrs. Haruno will be thrilled to learn that to you, she’s more worthy of respect than the Kusakage.”

“Well, she is,” said Indra, to chuckles from all around the campfire. “But we’ve wandered off topic. Have you ever travelled before Karin? Tomorrow won’t be nearly as bad, I can promise you that. Now that we’re near the border, we can slow down.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Karin. “But I haven’t travelled much before. I’d like to walk on my own rather than be carried everywhere, if that’s alright.”

“Most of us do,” said Sasuke as he and Sakura relayed Naruto’s bowl back to Indra for more food. “Though, if you’re interested, we could teach you how to jump and climb just like we did today.”

“Really?” Karin’s eyes sparkled. “That sounds so cool! But…” her expression dimmed just as quickly. “ The Acadamy teachers said I was never going to be a very good ninja, that I was only useful as a medical resource.”

Indra gave a dismissive snort. “Please. One of the most powerful ninja I’ve ever met was a medical ninja and the last time I saw her, she was flinging mountains around with her bare hands and reattaching severed limbs in less than a minute.”

“Yeah,” chimed in Sakura, her hands moving through several signs as her physical form exploded into a cloud of flower petals before reappearing on the other side of the fire next to Karin, still seated. “Everybody has their own way of being a ninja. Indra-sensei made us train with a guy who wears green spandex in public and has a hideous bowl cut, but he was a great taijutsu trainer!”

Karin’s face scrunched up. “What’s taijutsu?”

Naruto punched the air. “Punchy-kicky fighting, y’know?”

“Oh.” Karin absorbed this as she finished off her bowl, but Sakura tapped the empty plastic with her chopsticks. “You can ask for more, if you’re still hungry.”

Karin looked up at her and blushed. “Well, I didn’t want to impose.”

“We were willing to fight half a village for you after knowing you all of ten minutes,” said Sasuke. “Another bowl of rice isn’t imposing.”

The redhead inhaled two more bowls in swift succession and Indra allowed himself to relax. He’d planned on speaking to his genin about the deaths they’d caused, but looking at how they all naturally drew Karin into their conversation, subtly or not-so-subtly explaining the dynamics of their team to her while talking up the Leaf Village, he relented. It was a conversation for the next day.

_________________________________________________

That night, however, held a conversation that could not wait. Indra gave Sakura the first watch and allowed himself to drift back into the recesses of his mind, _where a dark pool of water awaited in a wooded bay. He plunged in without a pause and swam down, following the chains until he reached the tenuous barrier between his own mind and that of his younger counterpart. When he felt the vast presence move past the barrier, he crossed through at once, staring up at the Kyuubi no Kitsune as it grasped Sasuke’s nightmares in one massive clawed hand._

_“Should I let you finish your meal, or can you eat and make excuses at the same time?”_

_The Fox snorted. **Your brat has been generous, and you have been foolish, Indra Uchiha. I no longer require such sustenance to rebuild what has now been made whole.** He bit off most of the writhing ball of nightmares and tossed the rest at Indra. The Uchiha drew his sword and carved it in half further, systematically eliminating as many of the dark thoughts as he could. Still, with his attention on the Kyuubi, he knew some would slip away to trouble Sasuke’s dreams._

_“You’re letting him have nightmares again.”_

**_Of course. He may not be wicked, but his soul is now colored by murder and remains stained by vengeance. You’re an excellent guardian, Indra Uchiha._ **

_Indra did not let on how much the mocking words stung, because that would give the biju satisfaction. “You’re not exactly high in my esteem right now either, Kurama-san.” He stabbed his sword into the water-floor to punctuate his next statement. “What in the Nine Hells was that today?”_

_The Fox leered at him. **Naruto Uzumaki called out to me, and I answered. After one hundred and ten years, my Divine Justice returned to smite the deserving**. A sigh flowed over Indra and it smelled of blood, ozone, and rotten meat. **I feel two hundred years younger, would that opportunity gave me more time to savor the occasion. There’s always next time.**_

_Indra’s lips thinned as he tried to retain control of his emotions, knowing the Fox’s mere presence was prickling at him, making him easy to anger. The creature could be subtle when it wished. “We were in the middle of a diplomatic mission-“_

**_The consequences of my actions will barely be felt in a single human lifetime,_ ** _growled the Kyuubi no Kitsune. **Be grateful I’m choosing to play the long game, Indra Uchiha, I could’ve burnt out the runt’s chakra coils in a killing spree worthy of the Flamewind who Grass used to fear. Speaking of which…** the Fox curled its claws into a fist, **did you know the Biju were the ones who sundered Kusa’s ancient empire? That Box of theirs was nothing to us. But time and tides cover even the greatest of battle-scars, is that not so?** The fist moved up to cover one eye and grinned down at Indra._

_“You’re getting at something,” said Indra. “So speak plainly.”_

**_The Uzumaki girl,_ ** _said the Kyuubi with sudden seriousness. **You have intimated much to many, but I can taste the lies on your lips even through the seal. What do you know?**_

_“What do you?” countered Indra and the biju snorted flame for an instant._

**_I know the scent and salt of Uzu, no one better,_ ** _said the Fox with bitterness. **Drowning in their stench, caged in their flesh! I watched your runt grow inside Kushina Uzumaki from the very first! Did you think I did not know this day would come? That some ignorant worm who’d heard the legends would come crawling forward with such a dangerous dream?**_

_Vast claws tore furrows in the water-floor and the Fox’s shadow turned the water pitch black as his voice rose. Indra ducked down and readied his sword, but Kurama could’ve cared less, the flame of his anger like a solar prominence._

**_The Uzu-matriarchies are gone, staked, raped, and scattered! The Coral Throne is shattered and their people are hunted by sharks and shoals alike, you think your mortal concerns about diplomacy or casualties will sway me at all? I will kill where I wish, when I wish, and had I been clad in flesh that day, I would have annihilated Uzushio myself! So do not think, if your meat and bone thinks at all, that I will allow an Uchiha to open Uzushio’s Vault, Blood Oath or no!_ **

****

_“Karin Uzumaki is the last direct descendant of the Uzukage Matriarchy,” said Indra and he felt the Fox’s attention press down upon him like a physical weight as the smell of toxic chakra doubled, then tripled. “But I do not know how much she understands, and I do not intend to reveal such knowledge unprompted.”_

_The Fox stalked away from the Uchiha, crossing invisible pathways before curling up behind the bars of his cage once again. His parting words to Indra rumbled in Sasuke’s mindscape like thunder. **Uzushio was destroyed for a reason. Heed this warning, for it shall be the only one you shall receive.**_

****

_Indra sighed and ran his hand through his hair, allowing himself to fall forward into the water as he swam back toward his own mind and true sleep. “Well,” he thought to himself, “that went about as well as I expected.”_

________________________________________________

_The Nine-Tails, however, did not sleep. He waited, as in the mortal world the moon rose, the stars came out, and the night-birds called. Finally, at half-past three, he had his answer._

A breeze blew through the camp, scattering dead leaves and causing the sawgrass to roll under its passing. It smelled of salt and seaweed as the fire sputtered out into embers. A young woman with grey eyes and deep red hair stepped out from the moonlight and if Indra had been awake, he would have recognized some of Kaguya Otsusuki’s face. But the woman was not clad in robes of white and she did not float. Her forehead was bare of horns and her hands worried at a green kitchen apron as the water inside Naruto’s mind flowed towards her, disappearing as it lapped against her feet. The Kyuubi bared his teeth.

**_Whore princess of the uterine sea, you dare wear that face before me? The temerity!_ **

_Kurama-chan,_ chided the woman _. I thought Hagoromo-kun had taught you better manners. Besides, I thought Kushina’s face would put you at ease._

**_You mock me and call it a peace offering?_ **

_Would you prefer my first face?_ asked the woman with a smile that did not reach her eyes. Kurama snarled and for a moment, the golden bars blazed white-hot with his fury, but he did not reply.

The woman’s smile widened _. I thought not. Now, I felt a pull beyond the tides, one that called me up, I follow the salt-trail and who do I find but you? I had thought we’d settled this last time._ She pouted _._

**_Last time,_ ** _growled the Nine-Tailed Fox, **you had the stronger claim, not that it did Kushina Uzumaki much good in the end, did it? She was buried in a pine box, and rotted far from the sea.**_

The woman’s face twisted into something horrific as the water carried her forward past the bars of the seal. Her hand lashed out and Kurama yelped in pain as his muzzle was carved open down to the bone.

_Speak to me like that again and Isobu dies a true death._

Kurama bit down and tore her arm from its socket with a spray of gold and black ichor ** _. You have no power here, so far from the shore._**

The woman cried out and fell back, the water around her flowing up to seal the wound with a hiss of steam **.** _You won’t be able to hide forever Kyuubi-no-Kitsune. One day, I will cast you out from this boy._

Kurama roared even as blades of water sliced open his feet and lashed at his belly _. **If I go,** he snarled, **Naruto dies! You cannot kill me, and you cannot kill him.**_

The water surged up and dragged Kurama down with thunderous force, slamming him into the floor of his cage to meet her eye level _. The Uzumaki are mine, she hissed._

**_Yours to fail._ **

Kurama’s claws moved through signs. Snake, Boar, Ram. Rabbit, Dog, Rat. Bird, Horse, Snake. Then his palms hovered as he grinned down at his opponent’s horrified expression _. **This jutsu already sealed one god away. I wonder what would happen if I used it on you, inside this curious space I inhabit?**_

_You wouldn’t._

**_To be a god, is to be unpredictable and all I need is one little clap to activate the Reaper Death Seal. State your claim._ **

The woman tossed her hair back and glared up at Kurama. _Fine. I claim Naruto Uzumaki by birth, salt, and sand. I claim Tayuya Uzumaki by birth, salt, and sand._

**_I renounce any claim to Tayuya Uzumaki, she is salt and sand. I claim Naruto Uzumaki by fire, fang, and fury. He was mine before his birth, I nurtured him in the womb. He can bear more of my presence than any since the Old Man who now walks with you. Yours is the weaker claim, for once._ **

_Don’t push it, Kurama-chan,_ she warned _._

**_Very well. Do you accept my claim, Otohime?_ **

_Not Otohime-kami?_ She asked.

**_That title is just as false as your face._ **

_Very well then,_ she sighed. _I renounce any claim to Naruto Uzumaki, but the Blood Oath he swore remains. What of the girl, Sakura Haruno?_

Kurama lowered his hands. **_The Blood Oath is acceptable, but the flower-petal and her shadow are bound to no Clan. You cannot claim them, nor can I. Our claims have been settled._**

Otohime turned to leave, but Kurama’s tails blocked her passage between the golden bars.

**_There is another matter. Duty compels me to share it, though the warning beggars belief._ **

She put her hand on her hip and absently held up her arm as it fixed itself. _I’m all ears._

**_There is an Otsutsuki here. Hiding somewhere on the mortal plain. I’m told he injured the Old Man._ **

_Who said this?_ Asked Otohime, frozen in place _._

**_Indra Uchiha, one of Amaterasu-kami’s, great Goddess and Mother to us all. He married an Uzumaki, and his lips spill lies and truth in equal measure. He knows a great deal he should not and has many warnings. A curious character._ **

The woman vanished from Naruto’s mind without preamble and Kurama allowed himself a whimper of pain as the lash on his snout began to heal. Absently, he lifted his ravaged paws to his mouth and began to lick.

**_Would that my enemies dashed themselves to pieces against each other, but fate is never so kind._ **

In the waking world, Otohime peered down at Indra’s unconscious face, as a whisper of air drifted his hair back enough to reveal his eyepatch. One perfectly manicured eyebrow rose.

_Curious indeed, to have borne the Rinnegan. Still, I suppose he’s not really my problem._

She rose and dusted spatters of gold and black ichor from her apron, which floated back up to slip inside her pale white flesh without any resistance. _This does seem like something worth watching. Let’s see if I can go find Hagoromo-kun._

She stepped sideways through space and vanished on the breeze as Sasuke dragged himself out of his sleeping bag and pulled open his canteen, only to immediately spit it out.

“Salt water? Again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally updated, huzzah!  
> Hopefully it doesn't seem like Indra is losing all his fights, I try to keep him balanced enough to fit comfortably in that upper-tier of combatants while not seeming invincible, so he's allowed to make mistakes even with the Sharingan. At the same time, this chapter also establishes that Team Seven has attracted the attention of some Very Big Fish. A cursory Wikipedia search will reveal that it is not the Shinto God of the Oceans and instead Otohime, the Princess of the Dragon Palace, who responded to the Blood Oath and who has a history with Kurama. That's not an accident.  
> Admittedly, I'm just dumping gallons of Ominous Foreshadowing at this point, because subtlety is for cowards, but I wanted to establish that while the Tailed Beasts are at the top-tier of the mortal world, they also have other considerations. It plays into some interesting themes I've noticed in Japanese mythology of boundaries, the importance of rituals, and the juxtaposition of the sacred and the defilement thereof. Originally I was just going to have an invisible presence show up at night and watch Team 7, but I figured its divine nature wouldn't clear enough. Don't worry, things won't be quite as heavy next chapter.  
> Misc:  
> Team Seven's subconscious jutsu is a variant of the Water Wall technique modified by Uzushio shinobi and which hasn't been used in 75 years called Torrential Barrier. Kurama threatens to use the Reaper Death Seal against Otohime, because if he's had it used against him, you'd bet your butt he'd have memorized it himself, because he's petty like that. His opening insult to her is one the Skull Knight uses against the goddess Slaan in Berserk and is one of the most satisfying insults I've ever seen, but it fits so perfectly in this context. Also, the brick joke of Sasuke refusing to taste the salt water comes back, because of course, third time's the charm!


	44. Mission to Grass: Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 take Karin Uzumaki home to the Leaf Village and run into a familiar face on the way.

Sasuke thought that rising with the sun was far too early a start to the day, but his yawn stifled any protest before it could emerge from his mouth. He rubbed the muck from his eyes and looked over to see his “uncle” look around furtively before piling sticks into a small pyramid and lighting them with a small burst of fire.

“Is that wise?” Sasuke found himself asking as memories of their frantic chase the day before came back to the front of his mind. Indra nodded.

“We’re close enough to the border we likely won’t be bothered and I can see no other human chakra signatures above or below the ground.”

Sasuke looked around and tried not to twitch at how the other sleeping bags were empty. His half-brother, who they persisted in naming ”uncle” gave him a half-smile of obvious affection Sasuke still wasn’t used to after three years of regularly receiving it. “Thanks to your blood oath, all the water we had turned to salt overnight, so I sent Sakura and the Uzumaki to go find some more.”

“I noticed,” said Sasuke tersely as Indra raised his only eyebrow.

“Something on your mind?”

“You’re such a disappointment!” Sasuke’s eyes widened fractionally as he realized the thought had just tumbled out of his lips without pausing in between, but Indra didn’t glower like his father had. Instead, he just tilted his head slightly. 

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Yesterday, when Naruto just-“ Sasuke made clawed hands to indicate the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune, “started hurting people, you told us to go after him and vanished, then the next time we see you, you’d clearly been- _doing things_ with that woman in the Kusakage’s house! I thought you cared!”

Indra snorted with amusement and ran his hand through his hair. “I see. Fortunately for you, I do care! As I said, I trusted you and Sakura had enough skill to be able to handle Naruto in that state and that he would respond to you, his friends, when he’d already ignored his sensei. My goal in leaving you behind was to get us all away from a hospital of angry Grass ninja, while I went to the Kusakage in hopes of staving off further retribution from the Grass Village.”

“Obviously sleeping with a beautiful woman was the only way to make sure that happened,” said Sasuke with biting sarcasm.

“She wasn’t a courtesan or a prostitute,” said Indra, remembering the deep frustration that had slipped from Konan’s pierced lips. “She was an unexpected intelligence agent spying on the Kusakage for one of the other minor villages, and we had much to discuss. Pretending to have sex while actually exchanging intel is a very, very old trick.”

Sasuke crossed his arms and pouted. “I think you’re lying just to try and save your dignity Uncle.”

Indra clapped his hand against his knee as an idea struck him. “Sasuke, turn on your Sharingan.”

“Why?” said the younger Uchiha even as he felt the chakra already pooling behind his eyes.

“So I can teach you how to tell when someone is lying. Remember in the hospital? I promised to always be honest with you, and I meant it.”

With anger and disappointment roiling inside him, Sasuke found it was trivially easy to allow the red to tint his vision as the red and black of the Sharingan expanded into view and the world sharpened. Indra nodded.

“Good. Now, humans have micro-expressions, subtle tells everyone uses when they’re lying. It’s easier to see if you’ve known someone for years, but still. They stare without blinking, they stand perfectly still, their breathing will shift, they may bite or purse their lips, but a ninja can train such actions out of themselves. Watch my face.”

Sasuke stared at his uncle’s face as he peered back across the campfire and solemnly intoned.

“I fought Itachi Uchiha to a standstill at the old Uchiha meeting-temple in the southwest of the Land of Fire.”

Sasuke frowned. “I didn’t see anything change in your face.”

“Because that was the truth. I hit Itachi Uchiha in the face with a wet fish.”

The tone of Indra’s voice, his eyes, his lips, all remained the same, but something about his face suddenly seemed off as he said it, but Sasuke couldn’t put his finger on why. He made a noncommittal noise. “I can tell that was a lie, but it was pretty obvious.”

Indra smiled. “Alright, time for a more subtle distinction. I slept with Konan of the Hidden Rain and gave her a letter.”

“Truth,” said Sasuke as something sank in his chest.

“I had sex with Konan of the Hidden Rain and gave her a letter.”

There was that change-that-was-not again and the younger Uchiha shook his head. “You said the same thing, but this time it was a lie, I don’t get it.”

“Ask Sakura about the subtleties of word choice today, that and deceptive images, showing you only half the picture, are how genjutsu specialists can play tricks on you. We spoke, we exchanged information, then we literally both took a nap next to one another on a very comfortable bed.”

Sasuke could see the truth in the statement and he closed his eyes, allowing his chakra to drain away with a sigh. “Thanks Uncle.” The simple statement held relief and a quiet apology Indra accepted before the other Uchiha cracked several eggs against a small iron pan and held it over the fire with one gloved hand.

“While we’re talking about truth and lies, did the Nine-Tailed Fox say anything interesting? I figured there had to be something that drove Karin Uzumaki to ask her new cousin-twice-removed to kill a squad of unconscious Anbu. Not to mention he loves needling us Uchiha.”

The Uchiha were silent as the eggs cooked, Indra waiting patiently as his younger self wrestled with memories that were still fresh. “He tried to get me to kill someone!” burst out Sasuke. “Some drunk asshole who was hurting his wife, called my anger righteous, and said Naruto would let him kill Itachi with me, said it would be justice.”

Indra jerked the skillet, sending the eggs up before they landed back in the pan to keep cooking. “From his perspective, yes, I suppose that would be justice. What happened next?”

“I-I was going to do it,” admitted Sasuke. “That man just kept hurting her, we could all hear the cries, and I just-“ his hands were shaking with half-invoked anger, “I was going to carve him in half, then Sakura and I could try to heal her with the medical ninjutsu you taught us.”

His uncle’s voice was neutral, with no judgement or anger, perhaps a mild curiosity at most. The contrast from the day before, his reaction to the blood oath they’d taken, was stark.

“Did you?”

“No,” admitted the other Uchiha. “Sakura stopped us, froze us in one of her genjutsu.”

Indra whistled even as he silently noticed the _us_. “She froze the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune and you at the same time? Maybe I should…” he trailed off as Sasuke shook his head. “It didn’t really seem to work on him, he could still kind of move, but he’d noticed the jutsu. Told her to stop, called it annoying. But there was something else, something he showed Sakura and I, that convinced me I had to kill that man.”

“What did he show you?” asked Indra as his mind whirled through the conversations he’d had with the Nine-Tails, searching for any scrap he’d revealed that could speak to his true identity, or if the biju had only guessed.

“He showed us a memory of my parents, and Naruto’s mom inside Father’s office,” said Sasuke, his voice miserable. “I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were all on the same side, having an argument with some old woman, then-“

He paused. To say it in the light of day, to his uncle who was the Uchiha Bloodline Guardian, made it more real, somehow.

“Father turned and hit Mother. Across the face, then the memory ended.”

“You could tell it was a memory and not a genjutsu?” asked Indra, surprise and suspicion lurking on his face as his younger self shrugged. “It felt real, and then I was so angry, I didn’t question it.” Sasuke was staring into the pan of eggs like they held the secrets of the world. “He played me like a fiddle Uncle. I’m sorry.”

Indra shook his head. “You’re thirteen Sasuke. He’s a divine chakra-construct formed by the Sage of Six Paths sent to punish wickedness. It’s not an equal playing field, which does not resolve you of the intent to murder.” He pointed his stump at his younger self. “It’s time I told you about something the Second Hokage called the Curse of Hatred. He might’ve been a racist prick, but he had a point…”

________________________________________________

Karin shrieked and pinwheeled her arms as she fell towards the forest floor before Sakura intercepted her on a loop of her ninja wire and swung back up to the tree branch where Naruto was waiting.

“Thanks,” said Karin breathlessly as Sakura absently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“You don’t need to say that every time, we’re teaching,” said the other girl. “Besides, you’re picking up chakra boosting much more quickly than this goofball.” She gave Naruto an affectionate punch on the shoulder, which he returned. “Alright, now where do you think things went wrong?” She said it patiently, as if this wasn’t the fifteenth time they’d tried teaching Karin how to jump like ninja could, fast and almost weightless. As Karin’s mouth babbled out her guesstimate about chakra concentration and precision release, the rest of her brain considered the two members of Team Seven. They’d accepted her seamlessly, they’d defended her against Chunin Guhoro and Councilor Sorai with real outrage in their voices, and then they’d been willing to fight for her. Naruto, or whatever had been in his body, had _killed_ for her. But that deep-voiced spirit with the horrific chakra was nowhere to be found, a mere flicker in the core of the chakra signature in front of her. The boy was grinning as he told Karin about how even the famously elite Sasuke Uchiha had tried the same technique and nearly fallen to his death in a rainstorm until Naruto had saved him.

“Karin?”

Sakura put a hand on the redhead’s arm and the girl jumped so high her head cleared the tree canopy. She had a brief glimpse of an orange-pink sunrise before gravity took hold and she landed back on the branch with a harsh _clunk._

The pink-haired kunoichi had both hands up, but she didn’t jeer like Karin had expected. “See, that was perfect!” she exclaimed. “I mean, sorry about startling you, but that jump was twice as far as the distance you’re trying to cross now,” Sakura gestured at a branch two trees away, “So it’s not a power output issue.”

Naruto waved his hands in a flowing motion. “Maybe it’s all instinctual, y’know? Maybe Karin’s overthinkin’ it? Sakura, head to the other side, I wanna try something.”

The pink-haired girl broke off her muttering about surface aspect ratios and proper footwear for shinobi, gave Karin a thumbs-up, and launched from the branch in a swirl of leaves. Karin looked first from Naruto, to the waiting girl as she landed on the opposite branch. “Um, shouldn’t we be getting back? Your sensei must be impatient.”

“Naaahh, once this clicks for you, we can make up for lost time, so it’s no problem.” The blonde adjusted the massive Foxfang slung across his back with a curious expression. “Besides, helpin’ each other out is what family’s all about right?” His voice rose in a hopeful note that Karin echoed, feeling her confidence rise. They really were willing to help her, they seemed to genuinely care. “Alright.” She adjusted her glasses unconsciously, setting her feet apart on the tree branch and bouncing once or twice. “I’m ready!”

Naruto swung the iron mass of Foxfang over his shoulder and sheared through the branch in one smooth moment as Karin shrieked.

He somersaulted upwards and Karin felt her muscles surge, propelling her away from the falling branch and towards that smug face. “You little-“

Naruto’s hand caught another branch and he swung away towards Sakura as the pink-haired girl began scolding her teammate. Her diatribe was interrupted as Karin kicked off from Naruto Uzumaki’s gut and launched sideways, flinging herself into Sakura’s arms so hard the kunoichi had to anchor herself with chakra to avoid getting knocked off the branch in turn.

“Woah there!”

“Sorrysorrysorry!” babbled Karin, crimson with embarrassment and anger as she tried to disentangle herself from the pink-haired girl. She absently noticed that Sakura was also blushing and launched away again, landing on a separate branch that contained no smug family members and no girls. Sakura adjusted her dark green cloak as she felt Inner Sakura drain away the embarrassment she felt at the collision. “ _So what if she accidentally shoved a hand into your shirt? I mean, you were wearing a bra, so what’s the worry?”_

 _I’d like some time between us to think about this,_ stammered Outer Sakura. _That girl yesterday looked amazing, but Karin's nice! Don't fuck up the first actual girlfriend we've managed to make since Ino!_

 _Yeah,_ drawled Inner Sakura. _We really need more girlfriends. Ideally a harem._

Outer Sakura heard laughter echo around her skulls as her ears burned red and tried to ignore it.

Meanwhile, Karin and Naruto were pinballing around the forest as she kept trying to unleash rightful retribution against her cheating, rude, annoying cousin, only for him to dart away from her incoming punch at the last second. “Nyeh, nyeh, you can’t catch me!” he taunted.

“Just you watch!” Karin moved herself to move faster and faster, part of her exulting in her newfound speed before Naruto reached the forest floor and turned to smirk at a Karin he thought was several seconds further behind him. She tackled him and the boy reflexively threw her over his shoulder, causing a further shriek as the Uzumaki toppled into some bushes. She jumped out with a glare and stomped over. ”You keep playing dirty!” she accused, one finger jabbing into Naruto’s whisker-lined cheek.

“Yeah, but it worked, didn’t it?” said Naruto, pointing Foxfang at the trees around them. “Look, you pushed enough chakra into that last jump you broke the bark on that tree!”

Karin followed the line of his weapon and saw a shiny beige patch of fresh bark where she’d come from as her mouth dropped open.

“See, I knew you’d learn the same way as me. Sakura’s all about the theoretical stuff, understanding the why, I learned by just doing stuff.”

Sakura landed with a flutter of her green cloak and a puff of dust. “You mean by falling off a tree trunk constantly for a day and a half? Yeah.”

Karin and Naruto laughed at the same time and for a moment, the forest seemed so much brighter. Sakura watched them and felt warmth pool in her chest. “Alright, Karin, do you think you can do all that again?”

Karin jumped several times, moving from tree trunk to boulder, then up to the higher levels before swinging back down on Sakura’s coil of ninja wire, eyes shining with excitement and new self-confidence. “Yeah, yeah I’ve got it.”

Sakura forced herself to ignore the way something inside her wanted to fly and nodded with as much professionalism as she could. “Alright, let’s head back to camp. Naruto, I’ll carry the water for once.”

“You usually make me do that,” he said with no trace of ill will. The other genin winked. “I’m feeling generous today.”

__________________________________________________________________

By Indra’s pace it was a steady jog across the border of the Land of Fire, so Team Seven was making good progress, just as he’d hoped. Karin had taken to ninja movement quickly and when Sakura’d told him the story of how Naruto had managed to annoy his cousin-twice-removed into chakra usage, Indra had smiled. He’d informed Team 7 of the Uzumaki’s familial relation, though didn’t specify how he’d known that. Mostly because the scroll that had told him in turn was currently deep inside a buried island vault and hadn’t been touched in generations. Sasuke had assumed, of course, that it was one of his uncle’s annoying remnants from his “future-sight Sharingan that had been lost”, and explained the lie to Karin, which led into the long saga of how Team 7 came to be. With Uchiha and both Uzumaki thoroughly distracted, Sakura had drifted forward to speak with her sensei. At first she’d expected more anger about the blood oath they’d taken, but Indra had brushed it aside, saying that since it couldn’t be undone without even greater cost, the matter was irrelevant for now. However, he’d been very interested in Sakura’s account of her confrontation with the Kyuubi, the way he’d tried to seduce both Naruto and Sasuke into murdering a civilian. A rat-bastard of a civilian, admittedly, but still. When she’d turned to the memory the Nine-Tails had shown them, Indra had unashamedly grilled her for every last detail. Sasuke had given him the broad outlines, but Sakura was the genjutsu specialist of the team, he trusted her to see flaws, patterns or discrepancies the other Uchiha might not. Sharingan or no, a genjutsu could still work if Sasuke had been too angry to care, which he clearly was.

“I’m telling you sensei,” said Sakura with a slight pout, “it was really freaky. It didn’t feel like when we went into Naruto’s mind, and even accounting for the fact we’re talking about the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune, I couldn’t feel the seams of a genjutsu. But then if it wasn’t Naruto’s memory, and it wasn’t a genjutsu, then how could it be Kushina Uzumaki’s? She’s dead, right?”

“If I had to guess,” hazarded Indra, “The Fox was showing you Kushina’s memory through his own memory, like a game of Telephone. Which either could explain why there was no sound or he wanted to hide the conversation itself from you.”

Both were silent for several trees, each musing on the implications before Sakura spoke again. “There was something else Sensei, about the memory. I wasn’t sure at first, but I used the Chapter Three jutsu you showed me, Remembrance of Time, to pause the memory so I could get a good look. But before I tell you, I want to ask a question.”

“The floor is yours Sakura Haruno.”

She looked nervous. “Does the Mangekyo Sharingan always look the same, or does it differ from person to person?”

Indra felt a chill go down his spine. “It’s different,” he said. “But I presume this isn’t just a hypothetical.”

Sakura looked frightened. “The woman they were arguing with, before Fugaku-san…did what he did, she flashed the Mangekyo Sharingan at him.”

Indra landed heavily on a branch and did not move as first Sakura, then the other children, landed around him. “Sensei,” asked Sakura, “what does this mean?”

“Nothing good,” said Indra as he shoved down the questions and the anger which Sakura Haruno, a child, could not answer.

“What does what mean?” asked Naruto.

“When I figure it out,” said Indra, trying to shake off the gut-punch unsuccessfully, “I’ll let you know. Now look alive!”

Team 7 kept running for most of the day, setting up camp only when a tired and nearly chakra-exhausted Karin toppled off a branch and was narrowly saved by Naruto. They ate and slept, but when Indra splashed through the watery barrier between his and Sasuke’s nightmare-stricken mind, the Nine-Tailed Fox was nowhere to be seen. Indra gritted his teeth and had set upon Itachi’s tortured remnants with fire and sword, but he was not as efficient, nor as powerful as the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune in this particular area, so Sasuke would still find himself with troubled sleep.

Sheathing his sword, Indra attempted to follow the Fox over those invisible Dreamwalking paths to Naruto’s mind unsuccessfully.

“Dammit Kurama!” Indra swore and kicked at the water in frustration. “After everything I’ve told you, I’d appreciate a straight answer for once!” But the biju did not hear him, or did not care, for Indra loitered for a further hour inside his younger self’s mind before the Uchiha began to stir and he fled back to his own dreamscape.

_______________________________________________________________________

The next day, Indra had just finished introducing Karura to Karin, who had put a tree trunk between her and that very large sharp beak when the bird and girl’s heads whipped up at once.

“Indra-san!” squeaked Karin, but his summon was more precise. “You’ve got masked chakra signatures coming for you, my summoning alerted them.” The Goldfeather Hawk lifted his wings. “Under here, small ones!”

The genin scampered over, though Sakura couldn’t resist reaching up to touch the soft feathers at his breast, which merited a warning snap. Indra drew his sword, already preparing several Wind-style jutsu to launch the hawk and children into the sky where they would be safe.

Masked figures emerged from the grass, naked swords in their hands, only to pause at Indra’s fierce expression. “You can tell the Kusakage that if he wants to scare us,” snarled the man, “he’s going to have to find a better class of ninj-oh.”

A purple-haired Anbu with a familiar mask waved jauntily at him. “Hey Indra-san! Nice intimidation, I’d give it a solid six out of ten.”

“Cat?” exclaimed Indra in a mixture of confusion and delight, “By Amaterasu, what are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you,” said one of the Anbu in a Grasshopper mask. “So the bird’s how you got so far ahead of us, huh? Guess that makes sense.”

“The _bird_ ,” said Karura with a snippy tone, “has a name. Indra-san, some clarification would be appreciated.”

The Uchiha sheathed his sword and bowed. “Of course. Cat-san, this is Karura-kami of the Goldfeather Hawks, a wind deity from Northern Lightning Country. Karura-kami, these are Konoha Anbu, whose identities, of course, are secret.”

“So you say,” grumbled the bird. “But there is little these eyes cannot see.” He turned so one golden eye was staring at Cat, who stared back.

An orange and blue missile flew from underneath the bird and Cat caught it with the ease which marked the Anbu. “Hey there kid!”

“Cat-saaaan!” cheered Naruto as he swung around to perch on her shoulders. “Did you guys already hear how much butt we kicked? We beat up a bunch of Stone ninja and Grass ninja and-Oh! Oh!” He disappeared from her shoulders and ran back to Karura, who had lifted one wing so Sakura, Sasuke, and Karin could emerge. “This is Karin Uzumaki, my new cousin! Well, she’s not exactly new, because she’s been around, but turns out she was stuck in that crummy old Grass Village the whole time. So…”

Indra tuned out Naruto’s chatter as Cat’s free hand signed something to the rest of them. _Grasshopper, brief him._

The man stretched until something in his neck went _pop_ and gestured for Indra to follow him. As the other Anbu moved to stand in a semi-subtle guard perimeter around the vast hawk, the Uchiha kept a hand on his sword. “So?”

“We got word barely three hours after you’d gone from a listening post in Southern Stone Country. Half the garrison force down there had been sent into Grass Country, and we had no idea why.”

“I’m sure our mutual friend with the cane had a few ideas,” said Indra as he folded his arm as Grasshopper let out a short bark devoid of amusement.

“More than a few, and some pertaining to KPMD dash-zero-zero-nine.” A significant nod in Naruto’s direction. “So we set out after you, expecting to catch up on the first day, then the second. I mean, with genin in tow, we kept thinking, how fast could you move?”

Indra’s lips twitched upwards. “I did subject them to Might Guy. Still, it took us most of a day’s ride as the hawk flies, spent some time in an inn, then worked our way into Grass from there.”

“That fits,” said Grasshopper. “We picked up your trail once you hit the grasslands and ran into a salvage party of Grass-nin. They’re calling you The Black Hand now, which sounds pretty cool.”

Indra shrugged. “Some Stone-nin thought they could take my kids hostage, I took them out. Nothing special.”

“Must’ve been if you got a name like The Black Hand out of it. Anyway, they said you’d hooked up with the Kusakage on your mission, so we figured that was it and headed back. Guess Kokushibo Kado’s still a powerhouse in his old age , huh?”

“He’s dead,” said Indra shortly. “His son’s the new Kusakage, Dozuro Kado.”

He could feel the Anbu’s attention focus on him like a searchlight. “My read is, the son offed his old man and the Iwakage thought our ties to Grass were weak enough he could take few dozen miles of farmland. Problem was, Stone kept pushing until they met resistance, which was halfway across Grass itself. To give you an idea, they were maybe two hours away from the village itself. The battle could’ve gone either way, except we showed up at just the right time.”

“Sage’s shit,” cursed Grasshopper and winced when he saw the genin were trying to eavesdrop.

“Children,” said Indra in the same warning tone he’d used when Sarada had come home smelling like illicit alcohol and sporting a bad attitude. Nothing else was required, for they slunk back to chat with Cat, who was doing a wonderful job distracting them. Indra continued.

“Long story short, Grass isn’t feeling very welcoming to the Five Great Nations right now, even if the Leaf just saved them. So we gave the Kusakage his gold and his treasure, grabbed Karin Uzumaki, and left while we could.”

Grasshopper made a noncommittal noise and gestured for more detail, but Indra looked around. “I’d rather not go into it here,” he said. “Better discussion with the Great gates behind us.”

“Preach!” said one of the other Anbu as Grasshopper twirled a hand in and the ninja all converged near Karura’s head, several bowing to the summon.

Cat had a hand on her hip and managed to still look businesslike with four children staring at her like she could impart the secrets of the universe. “Finally all caught up boys?”

They nodded. “How do you want to play this Cat?” asked Indra. “This is your show now.”

“Well, you’re all in one piece and KPMD-009 isn’t causing an international incident, so that fire under our butts is gone. Weren’t there supposed to be two Uzumaki, though?”

“It didn’t work out,” said Indra shortly as Karin looked away. “Again, a story for later.”

Cat bent down. “I’m sorry little one,” she said softly. “But you’re safe now.”

“You’re Anbu,” spat the redhead, glaring at Cat’s shoes. “Anbu are never safe!”

“Oookkay then.” Cat rose in one fluid motion. “Beetle, Grasshopper, throw together a couple of clones of Team 7 and run them back to Konoha. Report back what you’ve heard. Crane, Tiger, you’re with me. We’re heading south into Grass, I want to find out what the hell is going on!”

“Cat-san,” Sakura looked uncomfortable. “The Grass Village probably isn’t going to be happy to see you.” The Anbu tossed her hair and tweaked Sakura’s nose in swift succession. “We’re not exactly amateurs, kid. Now get on that bird and book it back to Konoha!”

Sakura wanted to object. Here, at last, was someone she could confide in, a woman and a kunoichi of skill and beauty who would absolutely be able to untangle all the feelings going through her student’s head. “But-“

Indra grabbed her belt and tossed her upwards as Karura hopped forward to sweep her onto his back. Naruto, Karin, and Sasuke all followed in quick succession and barely any more dignity. “I’ve indulged you enough,” he said, his voice brooking no argument. “She’s right, it’s time to go.” The two other Anbu created clones of themselves, who transformed into Team 7 with puffs of smoke. Indra clasped Cat’s offered forearm, muttered what might’ve been a prayer, and leaped to join them. As soon as his feet anchored themselves, Karura began to beat his wings, sending grass rippling away from them in waves as the Anbu below, copies and all, scattered in different directions.

Naruto waved goodbye, but Indra doubted Cat saw. He only allowed himself to relax when they were above the cloud cover and heading in the direction of Konoha.

“Alright. Now that I’ve got you here, two thousand feet up where you can’t run away, Naruto, Karin, you’re going to explain to me why you both acquired a sudden preference for murder.”

“Uh…” Naruto tapped his stomach meaningfully but Indra didn’t even pause. Karin Uzumaki is family, not to mention she’s already seen the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune, so it’s a little late for secrets Naruto.”

“The WHAT?” Karin’s shriek made even Karura wince and Naruto settled in with the resigned expression of a boy walking to the gallows. “Oh boy, here we go…”

_____________________________________________________

Many, many hours later, Indra was standing on Karura’s head as the hawk swooped low over the canopy that had given the Hidden Leaf Village its name. He sighed. “Anything to share, Karura-san? I know you’ve been listening all day, but you haven’t said a word.”

“I do not believe advice for raising fledglings will help with raising ninja, Indra Uchiha. But to my ears, you did the best you could in a difficult situation. I am sure if the Kyuubi had wanted to cause such destruction, it would have happened, Naruto or no.”

“What concerns me is that they worked together,” said the Uchiha. “In my-“ he bit off a comment about his first life, because even the no-nonsense hawk would gossip about that. “The last time I encountered the Kyuubi, it was a second-hand experience. Not something that gave me great knowledge into his character.”

“The biju are ciphers to us all, mortal or divine.” The hawk dipped sideways to avoid a particularly large oak and Indra looked behind him to be sure the sleeping children were all still secured to Karura’s back. Four heads all accounted for as their transport continued. “Created from a corpse, by a man who became a God, each with their own agenda and often in conflict. Even now, sealed into humans, their influence can be felt by those who care to look.”

“Well, that’s reassuring.”

“The Fire-Wind mentioned he was playing ‘the long game’, which suggests your fledglings are not in immediate danger. Based on my experience, Naruto Uzumaki seems to be too bullheaded to be corrupted by the beast. I think you are, for once, worrying too much. Look, there’s the gates.”

The hawk pulled up short, sending a wave of dust towards Konoha’s gates, which were now mostly closed.

“I just got done washing those!” protested Kotetsu, throwing up his hands. “You damn turkey!” Karura snapped at him and the chunin barely managed to dodge the beak as Indra shook the genin awake. “Karin, Sasuke, Sakura,” he said softly. “Wake up.”

“Hrng,” said Sasuke. “Where are we?”

“Home.”

Still more asleep than awake, the children rolled down Karura’s back to where Izumo was waiting with a clipboard. “So how was your first mission?” chirped the man, somehow still cheery despite the lateness of the hour. Indra blamed coffee.

“It sure was something,” said Sakura.

“The mission unfolded exactly how a shinobi’s mission usually does,” said her sensei as he pretended Naruto wasn’t drooling into his shoulder. Izumo winced. “That bad, huh?”

Indra waved Karin forward. “This is Karin Uzumaki, she’ll be staying with us as long as she wishes.”

The chunin in front of him flipped a few pages, frowning until he pulled out a small flashlight and put it between his teeth. “ ’ere we go!” He spat the flashlight into his hand, pocketed it, and offered his hand to Karin all in one smooth movement before registering her faintly disgusted expression and swapping hands. “Welcome to the Leaf Village Karin Uzumaki,” he said with a warm smile. “I hope this can be your new home.”

She looked sideways at Indra, as Team 7 all subtly leaned into his presence, his chakra a soothing purple, then back at Izumo. She took his hand and, for the first time, allowed some hope into her heart. “Thank you,” Karin said. “I hope so too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I started writing at 9-ish this morning and it's now 4:51 PM, to give you an idea of how long it takes to write a chapter. There's a few time jumps in this chapter, because I'm trying to avoid describing every single little thing or conversation. Originally I had planned to includeIndra lecturing Naruto and Karin about the whole "kinda killed a couple of people and broke a few legs" thing, but figured the conversation about their motives and reasoning had already been covered in previous chapters. 
> 
> This chapter's mostly wrapping up miniature story arcs, though the thought does strike me that I may perhaps be playing up Woobie Karin a bit much, though I've hopefully managed to find the right balance. Thank you, dear readers for your patience! It is greatly appreciated, as are comments, plot guesses, and writing suggestions. Have a great rest of your weekend!


	45. Alternate Perspectives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Others react to the events in the Land of Grass as Itachi realizes he needs a better security system.

Despite her former master’s teachings, Konan still felt herself relax once her paper butterflies crossed over into the Land of Rain. This was her home, hers, and Nagato’s and Yahiko’s, so they’d worked hard to keep it safe and prosperous. The butterflies drifted down and coalesced into her cloaked form as she landed on the muddy road with a small smile. It was faster to fly, and she could simply use her Paper Transmission to arrive back in the village itself, but she wanted some time to collect her thoughts. Konan’s paper clone was still back in the Hidden Grass, playing the part of courtesan and was set to dispel in a week, giving her enough time to gather as much intelligence as possible.

Intelligence specifically about the death of the previous Kusakage, the rising nationalism his son was evidently stoking, and the possibility for alliance between Grass and Rain. Konan moved down the road as the cloudy sky opened up with a light drizzle, familiar enough to the Land of Rain’s inhabitants. She heard groans and muttered curses to her left and turned to see a group of rice farmers shrugging into half-open raincoats as they tended their fields. One good-spirited fellow grinned and said something to his neighbor, which prompted laughter and a slight smile from the blue-haired Spymistress. It was good to hear laughter again, when there’d been so little of it before. As Hanzo had grown more paranoid, he’d cracked down more and more against dissent until people’s laughter became more guarded, their jokes always presaged by furtive looks. Now, the Hidden Rain had finally reached peace, a peace Nagato was determined to spread to the rest of the world one way or another.

Konan kept walking, thinking about laughter and a small shack where she had been happy for the first time in a long time, when a man from another village had stayed to teach and protect them. That was what all people wanted in the end, to be happy, to have full bellies and a warm bed, able to live their lives from day-to-day without interference. But some men, _and it was usually men_ , thought Konan, just couldn’t stop wanting more. More land, more power, more money. As if those were things worth having in and of themselves.

She and Nagato ruled an entire nation, they could have eaten the finest seafood, clothed themselves in the finest silks, drenched themselves in perfumes and gold and advisors, but they did not. They lived simply, in a small apartment just like everyone else in Amegakure, on the same state-allotted budget Yahiko’s Akatsuki had spent months hammering out over tea and scribbling population projections on whiteboards. Konan’s lips twisted into something close to a smile as she remembered the March budget appraisal was still lurking on her desk back in the village, waiting for her to skim through page after page of projected expenses and incoming funds. She’d put it off by going on this mission in the first place, and now it was almost time to pay her dues.

Konan’s mind turned back to her work as she moved from a pedestrian stroll into the long methodical sprint of a ninja, her shoes sending mud spattering up against the protective layers of her cloak and the miles fell away beneath her. Indra Uchiha was trying to reunite the Uzumaki and had asked the Kusakage to use something called the Box of Paradise, whatever that was. She’d set some of her lesser agents to ask around, since based on the Kusakage’s reaction it was simply one more of the things Indra Uchiha was not supposed to know about, yet somehow did. Such as Nagato’s existence and the infirmity the Rinnegan had driven into him, along with dozens of chakra rods. Suddenly, “Madara’s” twitchiness made much more sense to Konan, but she still spared no pity for him.

“Konan.”

A black vortex spiraled into existence in the road head of her, disgorging a telltale single-eyed mask with sinuous patterns suggesting a raging sea. Konan skidded to a stop on the mud, sending a wave of muck towards Madara as the hole closed behind him. Most of it passed through the Uchiha harmlessly, but her amber eyes caught a few spatters of mud on his left sleeve, the last part of him to emerge from the void.

“Well, speak of the devil, and he appears.”

Madara’s voice was rich with amusement. “A fine sentiment from the Lady Angel herself. How appropriate then that Pain has summoned us both. Summoned all the Akatsuki available, in fact, to report on our progress and to introduce our new member.”

Konan inclined her head in acknowledgement. “Thank you for the message, I will proceed back to the capital as soon as possible.”

“He believes time is of the essence, and asked me to transport you to him.”

Her lips thinned. “I would rather fly.”

“I promise the technique is safe. I’ve tested it on several others, you will not be harmed.”

Konan gauged the masked, cloaked man, reading what she could from his body language and tone. His stance was seemingly casual, as was his tone, but with a liar like “Madara” she could never be sure if the information he relayed was true or not.

The other one-eyed Uchiha’s voice came back to her in that moment. _Somehow, he keeps finding his way into things, doesn’t he? Very slippery bastard to keep track of, so you have my sympathies._ She couldn’t resist poking the bear with information, even if it was just to ensure her safety during the teleportation jutsu. “I saw your mysterious Uchiha while in Grass,” she said without preamble and watched as his head tilted slightly sideways. “He had several messages he wanted to send to us.”

“Along with Kakuzu’s hearts, I take it?” said Madara.

“He said that wasn’t him.” admitted Konan. “Seemed genuinely confused, so he was likely telling the truth.”

“Very well. Come closer, and you can tell the rest of us what you’ve found.” He beckoned and the blue-haired woman stepped forward, gingerly putting a hand on his proffered arm. Again, so many curious mirrors between these two Uchiha. Both acted like perfect gentlemen, but there was a subtle undercurrent of _wrongness_ , of _hidden motives_ in everything the masked man did, compared to Indra’s messy, exhausted honesty. “Hold tight.” Said Madara, and Konan felt the void pulling at her, dragging her into the red-black of the Sharingan, only to spit her out on a grey platform surrounded by darkness. She noticed Madara’s arm remained solid and grippable the entire time as he landed on the stone barely a second behind her. She heard the telltale _whirr_ of another portal opening and scanned the area while her eyes adjusted to the gloom.

Racks and racks of weapons, a table with greenish glass jars, shuriken the size of a man, even a coatrack with a few spare masks alongside the dark robes he currently wore. Then they were gone, returning to the land of the living as the sounds of Amegakure exploded back into being around them.

Konan let go of Madara’s arm at once and stepped away, trying not to let on how disorienting the entire process had been, even as her mind filed away the experience for later examination.

“It takes some time to get used to,” said Madara, still in that tone that suggested amusement without actually conveying it outright.

“Enough,” said Yahiko’s deep voice and even as she blinked away the spots in her eyes, Konan instinctively turned towards that voice, who she’d loved first and still did.

“Pain, you summoned us?”

The tall corpse-man nodded. “As you said before your departure, it was a delicate mission and the arrival of shinobi from both the Leaf and Stone interests me greatly. Before I gather the others with the Magic Lantern Body technique, I would speak with you on such matters.”

“Yes,” said Madara, drifting closer to Pain. “I am very interested in why Indra Uchiha visited Kusagakure.”

The orange-haired corpse turned to stare at Madara with cool disdain. “Konan has barred you from village matters, and I agreed. Now go, I will summon you when the time comes for the Akatsuki to gather.”

The masked man glared right back, impatience creeping into his voice. “This concerns a wayward member of my clan, so it concerns me as well.”

“A clan you walked away from, if I recall the legend correctly,” said Konan and she felt Madara’s glare like fire creeping along her shoulders. Still, she maintained a composed front and even lifted her chin, giving him nothing. Pain looked between the two shinobi in silence before moving to stand between them, looking out over the Hidden Rain Village’s skyscrapers. “She is correct, but I understand some of your interest in this rather unique player. Rest assured that Konan will share what intelligence is relevant with you. _Later_.” He stressed the last word as the Deva Path flared his power, sending a gust of wind through the overhang. It wasn’t a subtle reminder, but sometimes Madara had to be reminded that they were not his pawns.

The masked man bowed towards Pain as the void began to open up once more. “As you wish, Amekage. I look forward to our meeting.”

The Deva Path of Pain and Konan waited for a minute to be sure he had gone and only at Pain’s silent nod did Konan approach him with a sigh. “You could have just sent one of the other Paths to summon me back.”

“I could have,” Pain admitted. “But you mentioned that you wanted to learn more about his technique, so I thought this a suitable pretext. You should have seen how eager he was, he had to visibly stop himself from travelling to Kusagakure.”

Konan raised a single eyebrow. “What stopped him?”

“He has not lived so long by being impulsive.”

“Well, I suppose that’s a good place to start. Indra informed me that our masked friend is not actually Madara Uchiha.”

“I see,” said Pain. “What was your measure of the man? Someone who destroyed Orochimaru, and so decisively, has at least done the world a service.”

“I think…” said Konan, the thought coalescing in her mind as she spoke, “he is sympathetic to us, you and I specifically, but not the Akatsuki.”

The Deva Path turned to look at her with a sketch of surprise on Yahiko’s preserved features. “Specifically?”

“He knew us both by name. He knows you’re Nagato, and claims that you are of Uzumaki descent.”

“Again, how does he know this?”

“He said the Rinnegan did not come to you by chance, and said he knows where to find proof of his claims. Apparently he married an Uzumaki and is trying to bring back the scattered clan members to right some past wrong concerning his daughter. He’s a lot like you actually, and seems to know something about Gods.”

“How so?”

“Special eyes, lost important people in his life, and is driven to equal parts gloom and furious rage at the injustices of the world, made mention of Gods like he’d spoken with them.”

The Deva Path actually winced as the remark hit home, but Konan knew him better than anyone after all.

“A family man,” mused Pain. “Yes, that would be motivation enough, I suppose. Which reminds me… While you were gone, the Human Path found Hanzo’s last niece and disposed of her. She was the last one with blood ties, direct or indirect, to that old tyrant.”

“Good, that’s done with,” said Konan with real relief. She and Nagato both knew, even absent Madara’s urging at the time, that if you wanted to crush a dynasty, you had to utterly eradicate it. Leaving heirs alive guaranteed intermittent power struggles as one pretender after another tried to claw their way back into Amegakure at the behest of foreign backers. It didn’t mean either of them liked it, though. Nagato at least had the decency to kill Hanzo’s relatives painlessly. For the most part.

Pain gestured. “Please continue Konan. As always, I welcome your council.”

She began to speak, telling her friends living and dead about Indra Uchiha, about the turmoil in Kusagakure, the sudden and unlooked-for arrival of the Stone ninja, and the chaos three Leaf genin had somehow managed to cause before the Kusakage had them chased out of the country along with their master. Pain took it all in with stoic silence, not even bothering to have the Deva Path breathe. “You’ve been very busy, then, so my apologies for summoning you back so swiftly. If I had known-“

“I’m fine,” Konan said with no small amount of irritation. “Summon the rest of them and let’s get this meeting over with.”

As Pain began to move his fingers through the long sequence of signs that would allow the members of the Akatsuki to astral project to their meeting location, Konan moved to his side and looked out over the Hidden Rain, taking in the gulls, the faint murmur of street traffic far below, a savory smell as something cooked in a frying pan. She leaned into him, uncaring that Yahiko was a corpse, that he was studded with chakra receiver rods, that they were going to enter a meeting with S-Class Criminals and she’d have to brief them all.

“No matter how many times I return,” she said, “Amegakure always feels like it’s welcoming me home, like you’re welcoming me home. Does that make sense?”

Yahiko’s head tilted sideways to look at her with warmth and if she believed hard enough, Konan could see both her friends, looking at her with that same soft love they only ever shared between the three of them. “It makes perfect sense. Any God who could not love you is unworthy of the title.”

She chuckled as the jutsu took hold and the vista of Amegakure was replaced by a dim cave and a hideous statue, chained and screaming. Her eyes scanned the silhouettes and noted who was there and who was missing. As always, Pain began with the rollcall. It never hurt to remind these scattered ninja that they were part of a larger whole, that Akatsuki meant more than just protection from hunter-nin and regular pay.

“This meeting of the Akatsuki has been called to order. State your names, for those who are new.”

“Um…ah, that would be me I guess,” rambled Madara, putting on a squeaky voice so different from his usual baritone that Konan was reluctantly impressed. He’d missed a career as a stage actor, the man had range. “I’m Tobi, an escape artist originally, I used to do prison breaks, where I met Konan. Hello, it’s nice to meet you all!”

That petty little man was painting a target on her back even as he played the fool, to the audible amusement of Kisame Hoshigaki, another recent addition. “Well, what a nice change of pace! We needed someone to lighten up this rather gloomy crowd. It’s almost a shame I’ve already got a partner, but I’m Kisame Hoshigaki. My partner, Itachi, apologizes for his absence. One of his old traps went off and apparently it was important enough he see to it personally.”

Pain was displeased. “There is nothing more important than the work we do here,” said solemnly. “Itachi would do well to remember that, so make sure to remind him Kisame.”

The shadow of the shark-man lazily saluted. “Of course.”

Eyes turned in shadowed faces to her as Konan introduced herself and Pain, emphasizing his status as the unquestioned leader of the Akatsuki. Next came Hidan, as insolent as ever without Kakuzu to keep him in check, followed by Zetsu the plant man. Konan frowned at that, for yet again Zetsu’s white half showed up, while his black half remained largely mute and unresponsive when Pain had brought up the issue. Still, their spy regularly delivered otherwise impossible-to-obtain intelligence, so Konan couldn’t complain, having taken over both Orochimaru and Sasori’s position as Spymaster of the Akatsuki after their deaths. She noticed Pain had cleared his throat and turned to listen.

“I’d like to now introduce our two newest members, replacing Deidara and Sasori.”

This was news to Konan as two more figures materialized with yellow and red eyes respectively. One tall and broad, the other short. Very short almost as if-

Hidan beat her to it. “Is that a fuckin’ kid? You guys seriously brought a kid in to replace scorpion butt? That’s pathetic!”

“Hidan the Immortal,” hissed the small figure, “I know of you, and I am no child. I am Chino of the Chinoike Clan, sound familiar?”

Konan was quietly pleased to note that this Lantern technique allowed her to see Hidan’s eyes pop from his head in shock. “You’re from that blood clan, with the freaky frog eyes!”

“The Ketsuryugan,” said Pain as he interrupted, “allows for powerful genjutsu and the control of iron, and blood in particular. Is there a problem, Hidan?”

His tone indicated there shouldn’t be.

Hidan looked across the cavern, clearly swallowing down his anger through the transmission. “No, there’s no problem,” he ground out. “As long as you don’t partner her with me. Lord Jashin views those who manipulate blood itself as profane and arrogant blasphemers, imposing on his domain of godhood.”

“Now, now, children,” chided Kisame as he hefted his enormous sword over one shoulder. “Play nice!”

“Why don’t you introduce yourself?” Konan said to the yellow-eyed man, trying to move this damn meeting along so she could go home and sleep.

“I’m Fūshin,” said the man awkwardly. “I’ve got, uh, a Typhoon Release which should be good for going after Kirigakure and their beasts.”

“Chino and Fūshin will be partnered together, in keeping with their previous excellent relationship,” said Pain. “They will be operating in the Northern portion of the minor nations and have an interest in missions both Mist and Lightning-related. Now, we are still short one member, but our efforts will continue undaunted. I shall summarize them for you now, new members.”

Pain paused to take a breathe he did not need as Madara’s incessant prattling towards Kisame pattered out.

“The last few years have been difficult,” he admitted. “Several of our members have fallen, for this is a dangerous thing, trying to change the world. Many of the Sage’s Rings have been recovered, though a few remain out of our reach. While they do, we cannot safely begin the business of sealing the Tailed Beasts away; so in the meantime we have turned our many hands towards other successes. We are speaking now through the Magic Lantern Body technique, a rare and difficult-to-master transmission jutsu procured by Sasori before his death. It will allow us to continue our disparate operations until we are required to gather again. We have enlisted several sealing masters across the Elemental Nations to prepare seals that will trap the chakra of the Tailed Beasts for a short time. Return to Amegakure and announce yourselves at the gates if you wish to receive them. As for the matter of the Sage’s rings, Professor Daisuke of Kaisoku University will retrieve the last unaccounted-for artefact within a week’s time.”

Pain looked across to Madara. “Tobi, Zetsu, I want you to look into the rings held by Konoha. Get them, and do so soon. We cannot afford to waste any more time.”

“As you wish.”

“Sure thing boss!”

Pain turned to the last immortal in the group, who was the youngest and yet had survived longer than both Sasori and Kakuzu. “Hidan, your services are required for a search-and-destroy contract from the Land of Snow, you will receive the details-“ Pain’s image turned to static briefly as Hidan staggered and clutched his head. “Now.”

The immortal swore loudly before wiping away flecks of spiddle from his mouth. “You just shoved all’a that into my head? Damn, that is a useful technique. Different kind of pain than I’m used to, though.”

“It was painful because you resisted,” said Pain. “Chino, Fūshin, there is a mining town in Southern Lightning Country which wants a settlement out of the way to access valuable ore. Here are the details.” Pain’s image fizzled again and the two newcomers had taken Hidan’s example, for the information flowed smoothly into their minds.

Suddenly it was her turn. “Konan,” said Pain who was all business now, ”your report?”

She reiterated again who Indra Uchiha was, his mysterious vendetta against the Akatsuki, and relayed some of what he’d said, though as always she was careful in what she divulged. The messages he’d asked her to pass along to certain Akatsuki members were a mix of cryptic and insulting, some private jab hinting at a history between them. Kisame promised to convey his message to Itachi with a toothy smile that died when Konan shared that the shark -man’s sisters were disappointed in him. Konan didn’t even know the shark-man had sisters, or siblings of any kind. In fact, based on his occasional explanations of sharks, she’d assumed he’d likewise ate his younger and presumably smaller relations with gusto.

The crack about Zetsu’s mother earned a silent, but quivering display of fury from the merged beings, along with a loud, low growl that thrummed in Konan’s chest even though she knew neither of them was physically present in the chamber. The members of the Akatsuki, even Hidan, peppered her with questions, which she did her best to answer without showing much of her hand. Finally the flood of questions, including the innocently posed ones from Madara-as-Tobi, slowed to a trickle, then trailed off altogether.

Pain looked around. “Anything else?”

There was not, so Pain cut the transmission jutsu short with the barest of farewells.

Konan looked up to see a surprisingly larger number of cloaked figures around her than when she’d sat down next to Pain. The other five Paths all bowed to her and moved off in the direction of their tower. “It occurred to me minutes into the meeting that we had left ourselves terribly vulnerable,” he said with Yahiko’s body. “Fortunately I am used to focusing my attention on many different things.”

“As am I,” joked Konan as she dissolved into a cloud of paper butterflies, winging her way towards their home.

She was still musing about all the possible implications of what she’d heard in Kusagakure several days later. She started the morning reading the newspaper which held itself up in front of her as Konan’s hands and mouth were occupied by cereal. The telltale whirr of Nagato’s walker announced his arrival as he maneuvered his way into, and through the kitchen.

“You’ve been quiet,” he said as Konan circled one or two the Letters to the Editor in green ink for a visit from the Lady Angel.

“I’ve been given a great deal to think about,” she replied honestly. “Just thinking about what he said about us.”

Nagato attempted to pour milk into the cereal bowl but his arms failed him twice until he gave up and just used the Deva Path’s power to levitate the milk at the appropriate angle. “Beyond the frankly unprovable claims of my lineage, you mean?” His walker stalked forward to Konan’s right and the legs pushed upwards, locking in place so Nagato was level with the table. “I’d like to have the Human and Naraka Paths interrogate any shinobi who ventured to the Land of Fire recently, but almost all of them were new recruits or mere genin. Not the sort of people who would have ever met us in the Akatsuki.”

“I suspect, given the breadth of his knowledge, that it has something to do with that blasted Sharingan of his,” Konan said tartly. “Why are there so many ocular dojutsu anyway? No offense.”

Her friend, who she wished was something more, swallowed and his skin was so thin, she could almost see the food as it travelled down his throat. “The theory is that since the Sage’s eyes were divinely gifted, all dojutsu spread from the Rinnegan, but I don’t think that’s the case. You remember that old saying Master Jiraya used to tease me with until we buried him in mud and he stopped?”

“The eyes are the windows to the soul,” recited Konan in a wave of nostalgia.

“I think there’s some truth to that, thanks to the Paths I mentioned before. You stare into so many souls, and you start to realize there’s a bigger picture than the one most people see.”

They sat in silence for a while as Nagato ate and Konan wrestled with her emotions.

 _It’s not fair to dump this on him,_ said part of her brain.

 _It’s also unfair to keep this from him,_ replied another part.

_Nagato is ours, he and Yahiko are the bridge to peace. This would just be a distraction from all our work, not to mention it’s juvenile and likely a trap._

_Are you just afraid he will have more people in his life besides you?_

Konan knew enough about herself that the remark stung, but even still, she rejected it.

_The people of the Rain Village already worship us as divine, they put up those little totems of me voluntarily now. We have an entire village who love us, that’s a ridiculous assertion._

Still, she thought again about some of Indra’s parting words, as he’d buttoned his shirt. 

She could feel the creased envelope Indra had given her in her pocket like a physical weight, taunting her with the potential of alliance and betrayal it held in equal measure. _You understand the failures of the village system and that family matters no matter where you find it._

“No matter where you find it,” she said, causing Nagato to look up.

“Could you repeat that?”

Konan made her decision and summoned the letter from her cloak with a gesture. 

“So, Indra gave me this letter…”

___________________________________________________

Kizashi Haruno opened his daughter’s bedroom door as quietly as possible to see Sakura hold a succession of ribbons up to the window. She’d been bleary-eyed, but pleased, dozing against the couch as Indra Uchiha told Kizashi and Mebuki about their adventure. Flying on a summoned creature, meeting Naruto’s long-lost cousin, and even the Kusakage himself! To hear Indra tell it, Sakura’s first mission had been a whirlwind of spectacle and success, but Sakura’s new green cloak and bandaged shoulder put paid to that. His wife had worried, indeed, was probably still worrying, but Sakura’s quiet satisfaction had convinced Kizashi that however she’d been hurt, it had been for a good reason and his daughter hadn’t taken the blow lying down.

“I know you’re there, Dad,” said Sakura and Kizashi smiled sheepishly as he stepped further into the room.

“See, you’re already showing up your old man! What’s with the ribbons?”

“Karin-san’s got light red hair, not as pink as mine, and I’m trying to decide which ribbon would best suit her,” said Sakura with the frown of a girl pondering weighty matters. “Naruto’s dragging her all over the village to show off Konoha, which means Sasuke’s likely tagging along if both Uzumaki managed to drag him out of bed. Naruto’s shadow clone said I could meet them at your old genin hangout for fried chicken.”

Kizashi laughed. “Your mother won’t be happy to hear that, but it’ll stay our little secret.” His laugh trailed off as he realized the particular circumstances which had prompted his own jonin instructor to take them to the little restaurant. “Sakura,” his voice turned serious. “Was the mission really that rough? You seem fine, but I just wanted to check on you.”

He watched the emotions play across her face, though she tried to hide her tells, but Kizashi was her father. Ninja training could only go so far against such a perceptive opponent.

Surprise, a hint of fear, guarded curiosity, and finally, determination as his daughter came to a decision. “It wasn’t perfect,” she let out a weak laugh, “pretty terrifying actually, but I’m glad I went. Team Seven was able to help a lot of people who needed it, especially Karin. We got to meet some interesting people, like Sensei said. I got to realize all sorts of things about myself too.”

“Like what?”

Sakura shook her head. “We’re getting off the subject Dad. Which one of these ribbons would look good on a redhead? It’s Karin’s Welcome to Konoha present, so it’s got to help her draw the right kind of attention.” She scowled briefly, her face gaining a wicked quality Kizashi had only seen when his wife was first in line for a sale. “Since Naruto so often seems to draw the wrong kind.”

She looked up as her father’s warm hand rested itself on her head. “You know your friends, whoever they are, will always be welcome here Sakura. Don’t let how other people see them affect your relationships.”

"Thanks Dad. I mean, her new home is a hell of a sight better-You know what? Never mind.”

She cut herself off suddenly and Kizashi absorbed her behavior with a mix of curiosity, satisfaction, and concern as he bent over to examine the ribbons. She was still his little Sakura petal, just a bit different. Whatever was bothering her, Kizashi knew she was smart enough to not bottle it up forever.

“Well, I think the blue would be a nice contrast, or is that too obvious?”

“Well, that was my first thought too, but is it too obvious? Plus, a dark enough blue will just make the ribbon look black in the wrong light…”

As Sakura kept going, Kizashi felt something settle in him as he saw the light return to Sakura’s mood. She was doing fine.

_________________________________________________________

Danzō had seen Hiruzen’s pipe actually fall out of his mouth on only two separate occasions. The first was upon receiving the first classified intelligence briefing as Hokage and the second had been the birth of his son. It hadn’t fallen yet during Indra Uchiha’s briefing, but he could tell it was going to be a close thing. As Indra gave a broad overview of the Kusakage’s speech to his people, Danzō deliberately trod on Hiruzen’s big toe and ran a hand across his upper lip. In the private language they’d developed over years of Council meetings and dealings with Great Nations, it meant, _how are you holding up?_ Hiruzen brushed some dust off his desk, which meant _I’m fine,_ followed by, _you worry too much._ If they’d been speaking, his old friend would’ve likely said Danzō was an incessant worrier, verging on paranoid. But Danzō knew it wasn’t paranoia if they really were all out to get you. Grass, Stone, and especially Indra Uchiha.

“But since I wasn’t taking the time to perform deep genjutsu on the Iwagakure shinobi, I can’t offer any further insight into their attack,” he finished. Hiruzen relit his pipe as Inoichi Yamanaka asked about what the Grass official might’ve let slip and Danzō drifted back into his musings. _Another Uzumaki in the village…_ It was worth sending a Root operative to check in on the girl from time-to-time, until the Uchiha grew complacent enough he could arrange for a discreet conversation. He almost wished that Root’s younger squads still existed, but Kushina had been a salutary lesson that the Uzumaki Clan did not mesh well with Root’s dirtier business. Speaking of KPMD-009, both Kotaru and his own predictions had come true concerning Naruto Uzumaki. From how Indra had described it, there had indeed been a nasty diplomatic incident, one he oddly was not present for, chasing the Akatsuki spy instead. Still, Indra’s contingency plans had worked and two genin had managed to stall or restrain the limited form of the Kyuubi no Kitsune’s host to a single-digit death count and only several dozen wounded. In Danzō’s book, that was a victory, no matter how much the Grass might rustle in protest.

“Danzō?”

“Hrm,” grunted the old man as the greater portion of his mind returned to the Hokage’s office to see Indra and his old teammates looking at him expectantly. Still, both Indra and Hiruzen’s faces showed sly awareness as Homura repeated the question. Sometimes Danzō hated getting old. ”I asked, how do you think this tumult should affect the invitations we send out for the chunin exams? My committee wants those sent out by the end of the month so we can get a sense of how many people the village will need to host. We don’t want to follow Cloud’s example and have overflow tents on the mountainside.”

“That wasn’t a failure of planning,” said Danzō stubbornly. ”That was a deliberate tactic by the hosting village.”

Hiruzen cleared his throat, so his friend reluctantly dropped the subject. “As for your question regarding the chunin exams, let us inspect the Grass shinobi carefully, but allow any shinobi from Amegakure. The increased security risk is preferable compared to the knowledge they have in their heads. We need to know what’s going on in that country and even a genin might have a crucial detail buried somewhere in their minds. Besides,” and here Danzō allowed himself to smirk, “if Konoha will be submitting a number of high-quality teams from the former Sound Village, then this is a perfect opportunity to test their loyalty as well.”

Inoichi looked uncomfortable. “Sir, considering my children’s teams will be trying out, I don’t think I can endorse-“

“I’m not asking you to mind-walk, Inoichi. Simply put the genin in a closed environment and see how they respond. Who is willing to abandon the Leaf, who is not? Who protects their teammates, who won’t? A semi-lethal crucible like that is something even your bleeding heart can approve of, eh, Hiruzen?”

The Hokage chuckled, as did the other two councilors. “An excellent compromise, Shimura. You know me too well.”

“That’s it!”

They looked up to see Indra’s eye light with excitement. “Care to enlighten us, Uchiha-san?”

He looked abashed. “Nothing of import, Lord Hokage. I just realized the perfect way to discipline my genin is to bar them from the chunin exams.”

Homura pulled a disappointed face. “That’s a shame, the Uchiha team would’ve drawn in spectators from all across the Land of Fire if your students had progressed to the final rounds.”

“Yes, indeed,” chimed in Danzō, who received Indra’s glare without missing a beat. “We will be watching your genin’s careers with great interest.”

“They are my students,” said Indra in a controlled voice that hid real anger. “Not your dancing monkeys. I will put them forward for promotion when I feel they are ready.”

Homura defused the situation with a few muttered apologies and, the meeting over, the participants began to leave. Yet Indra lingered in front of the Hokage’s desk and whatever he said had the old man’s face brighten in pleasure as he nodded. Danzō strained his ears, but the hubbub of the petitioners waiting outside meant he was only able to catch one word. _Reunion._

The head of the Anbu pondered that word all the way back to his office.

_______________________________________

It was common knowledge that most ninja could travel faster than a horse by any number of ways, so running from them was just a way to die tired. They could run twice as fast for just as long using chakra alone, not to mention summonings, teleportation jutsu, or various methods of flight. As one of his men fell screaming from the saddle, this thought did not give Kozumo Hoguo any comfort. “Head for the forest!” he bellowed, pointing with his sword. “Split up, meet at base, and don’t look back!” He dug his heels into the sides of his horse to spur her forward, but ignored his own advice to look back at the black speck of Itachi Uchiha, rapidly gaining ground.

Soon enough, they were among the trees, but Kozumo didn’t slow down at all, wrenching his poor horse’s bridle this way and that as they hurtled through the trees and feeling the copies of the Uchiha Scrolls bounce in his saddlebag. They’d prepared duplicates in advance, and had intended to leave several clever forgeries around the Uchiha hideout, stalling the inevitable response or to at least make it harder for the enemy to kill them all.

They’d expected traps, (a jury-rigged kunai launcher had hit Migu in the thigh), they’d expected genjutsu, (Bakuzan’s fingers were still twitching), but they hadn’t expected Itachi himself to be there so quickly. Kozumo shook the thought away as an enormous fuma shuriken sliced through the rear legs of Tanki’s horse, prompting a mix of human and equine screams. The bounty hunter grit his teeth and kept riding as fireballs rained from above. He’d never been so grateful for the years of hard riding that had marked his early life in the Land of Stars as nomads.

“WHERE ARE THEY!?” howled a voice from above them. It sounded enraged and alittle mad, so that was likely Itachi. “Where are the scrolls?”

“Not here,” retorted Baki as he turned in the saddle and let lose with three arrows in quick succession, aiming for the voice, to no visible effect. “Set us all on fire then, and find out the hard way, huh?”

“Baki!” shouted Kozumo, almost breathless, “Don’t taunt the psychotic missing-nin!”

He felt, more than saw, the flurry of shuriken heading towards him and jerked to the side, only for the horse to scream as it ran into the trailing razor wire, carving bloody furrows in the beast’s flank. He urged her on as Baki turned to fire again and was caught in a genjutsu, falling from the horse and attempting to swim through solid ground. A black figure landed on the horse within seconds, rustling through the saddlebags even as horsemen threw everything they had .at him. He vanished into a swarm of crows as Baki’s horse died soon after his master.

Kozumo’s hands were slippery on the reins, but from exertion, panic, or blood, he couldn’t tell. He didn’t much care as Fugo drifted closer, matching his speed. “Boss, before we die, I gotta tell you something.”

The bounty hunter gave a strained smile. “Anything, my friend.”

“You fuckin’ suck at picking our contracts!”

“That’s fair,” he admitted with a bleak laugh. “But it’s too early to give up yet! We can still lose him in these woods, there’s only one of him!”

Puffs of smoke and murders of crows coalesced from the trees as Itachi duplicated himself into half a dozen clones and Fugo groaned. “You had to jinx us, didn’t you?”

But Kozumo couldn’t hear him, because Itachi had immolated the mercenary leader with a precision blast of fire. Fugo’s horse reared in terror and the man was thrown free from his saddle, landing with a painful _snap_ as something in his arm broke. He tumbled for several meters, force writing itself in bruises all over his body before he hame to rest in a wreck of limbs and armor at the base of a tree. He watched as the few remaining horsemen scattered further from their lose grouping and the Itachi clones began to pursue.

“This was a hopeless, foolish endeavor,” said a voice brimming with derision.

Fugo groaned in response as Itachi Uchiha came into focus in front of him, all Sharingan eyes and disdain. “Bite it, traitor,” he ground out, before the missing-nin put his full body weight on his broken arm. He screamed for what seemed like an eternity until the pain was gone.

“Defiance will gain you nothing, thief,” said Itachi. “Perhaps a slow death, but I do not have time to torture you properly. I will ask once: Where are the Uchiha Scrolls?”

The bounty hunter grinned up at his killer. “Don’t know and I wouldn’t tell you even if I did.” We mixed up the scrolls so good, even your fancy genjutsu can’t drag it out of us. Can’t get information a man doesn’t know.”

“Such loyalty from a hired spear,” pointed out Itachi as he dragged the man to eye level. “I don’t think you’re telling the truth.”

“Some people,” broke in a new voice, “live by a code of honor. You did once, before you threw it all away for madness!”

Both men looked up and Fugo grinned through bloodied lips. “Oh, you are so boned now.”

Several masked Anbu perched above them in the trees, weapons aimed at Itachi as a purple-haired woman motioned for Itachi to step forward. “Not a good day for you, Itachi. I’ll do my best to make it your last, do your half-brother a favor.”

Itachi dropped Fugo, but they could hear the slight note of confusion as he repeated the words. “Half-brother?”

“Yup, missed one on your genocidal rampage.” The woman’s laughter rang across the forest. “Imagine that, a killer staking his entire reputation on annihilating his clan, and he can’t even do that. How pathetic. Well, maybe not as pathetic as finding out Fugaku Uchiha fucked his way through the Land of Lightning and your opposite number’s even better with the Sharingan than you.”

“I will kill you for that insult,” said Itachi in a calm voice that paradoxically unnerved Fugo more than the maddened screaming had. The purple-haired woman’s blade sprouted six more in a fan of steel and purple-tinted afterimages. “You’ll try.”

Fugo lost consciousness to the clash of blades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was almost late, perish the thought! Won't get as many eyeballs if I'd uploaded it at a more decent hour, but whatever. This chapter addresses some plot threads and starts others (as if I didn't have enough happening in this fic) so hopefully it keeps you invested!
> 
> Trust me, Itachi's not going OOC, he's just...very invested in keeping his Big Plan for Sasuke intact. A Plan Indra is already working hard to throw monkey wrenches in. Cat's mocking of Itachi is reminiscent of Batman Beyond's best scene where Terry McGuinness mocks and mentally destroys the Joker, because that scene's so good. For Sakura's fragment, I wanted to add another scene from her mother's perspective, but both parents seemed redundant and it's already late. Can't remember if my story's passed the Bedchel Test yet or not. I also really wanted to write Konan's reaction to Obito joining the Akatsuki as "Tobi" since he's so different from the Madara persona. The two new Akatsuki characters are from one of the Shippuden filler episodes set after the finale, where Sasuke meets new and interesting people and uses Talk-no-Jutsu on them. Both characters seemed like the type to join the Akatsuki and even though the girl seemed young in the anime, she says to Sasuke that she's "much older than him". So I reckon the blood/body manipulation her clan's jutsu also allows them to alter their appearance and slow their aging. Someone's been eating Akatsuki members for breakfast, how worrying! Who could it be?
> 
> I've also been informed that Indra/Future Sasuke doesn't actually need both his eyes to activate the Susano'o, since Madara used it without any eyes at all during the 4th Shinobi War. Good news is, I have a plan to fix this! (I have many plans)
> 
> Poll time! Should Cat/Yugao survive her encounter with Itachi?   
> Yes/No/A Fate Worse Than Death/Leave It Ambiguous/Fortnite Dance


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